BP Egypt announced on June 9, another important gas discovery in the Baltim South Development Lease in the East Nile Delta.
The Baltim SW-1 exploration well, drilled in water depth of 25 meters by operator IEOC (Eni), reached a total depth of 3750 meters depth and penetrated approximately 62 meters of net gas pay in high quality Messinian sandstones. The discovery, which is located 12 kilometers from shoreline, is a new accumulation along the same trend of the Nooros field discovered in July 2015 and currently producing 65,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Further appraisal activities will be required to underpin the full resource potential of the discovery.
Hesham Mekawi, Regional President of BP North Africa, commented: “We are pleased with the results of the Baltim SW-1 well as it is the third discovery along the Nooros trend and confirms the great potential of the Messinian play and its significant upside in the area. Our plan is to utilize existing infrastructure which will accelerate the development of the discovery, and expedite early production start-up. This announcement is another example of BP’s commitment to unlock resources in order to bring critical gas production to Egypt.”
BP holds a 50% stake in the Baltim South Development lease, and Eni, through its subsidiary IEOC, holds 50%. The well was drilled by Petrobel, a joint venture between IEOC and the state partner Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC).
• BP has a long and successful track record in Egypt stretching back over 50 years with investments of approximately $30 billion, making BP one of the largest foreign investors in the country. In Egypt, BP’s business is primarily in oil and gas exploration and production. BP is working to meet Egypt’s domestic market growth by actively exploring in the Nile Delta and investing to add production from existing discoveries.
• To date, BP Egypt, in collaboration with the Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company (GUPCO), BP’s joint venture (JV) Company with the Egyptian General Petroleum Company (EGPC), has produced almost 40% of Egypt’s entire oil production, and currently produces almost 10% of Egypt’s annual oil and condensate.
• In addition, through joint ventures with EGPC/EGAS and IEOC (ENI) the Pharaonic Petroleum Company (PhPC) and Petrobel BP currently produces close to 30% of Egypt's total gas.
• The West Nile Delta (WND) Project is a strategic project for BP. BP is the operator of the project. The West Nile Delta project, involves the development of 5 trillion cubic feet of gas resources and 55 million barrels of condensates. Production from WND is expected to be around 1.2 billion cubic feet a day (bcf/d), equivalent to about 30% of Egypt’s current gas production. All the produced gas will be fed into the country’s national gas grid. Production is expected to start in 2017.
• BP has made a series of discoveries in Egypt in recent years including Taurt North, Seth South and Salmon and Rahamat, Satis, Hodoa, Notus, Salamat and Atoll.
• BP is a 33 per cent shareholder of a natural gas liquids (NGL) plant extracting LPG and propane, United Gas Derivatives Company (UGDC) in partnership with ENI/IEOC and GASCO (the Egyptian midstream gas distribution company).
• BP is also present in the downstream sector through Natural Gas Vehicles Company (NGVC, BP 40 per cent) which was established in September 1995 as the first company in Africa and the Middle East to commercialize natural gas as an alternative fuel for vehicles.
