Italy's Eni to drill North Sinai exploratory oil well next week- EGAS official - ZAWYA / ENTERPRISE

23 SEPTEMBER, 2018

CAIRO - Italy's Eni and Egypt's Tharwa Petroleum will drill the first exploratory oil well in northern Sinai's offshore Noor field next week, an official at Egypt's gas company EGAS said on Thursday.

Egypt's cabinet approved in March a $105 million deal to explore the North Sinai region of the Mediterranean Sea. Tharwa Petroleum, which holds a 15% stake in Noor.

Expectations are high: Eni, which holds an 85% stake in the field, denied in recent months reports claiming that it had discovered 90 tcf of reserves there, or 3x as much as the supergiant Zohr field. The company signed two other agreements with the government last month for exploration in the Nile Delta and Western Desert.

Oil Ministry signs three new oil and gas exploration agreements in Gulf of Suez and North Sinai - ENTERPRISE

Thursday, 12 July 2018

Oil Ministry inks three new agreements for oil and gas exploration in North Sinai and the Gulf of Suez. The first agreement, between GHP Exploration Corp. and the South Valley Petroleum Holding Company, will see the company drill four new wells at a cost of about USD 6 mn at the West Gabal El Zeit concession in the Gulf of Suez, according to a ministry statement. The second agreement was signed between the EGPC and UK’s Perenco for exploration in the North Sinai offshore concession, while the third was with the EGPC for exploration in the Gulf of Suez’ Ras Fanar concession. The Oil Ministry is currently finalizing procedures for 18 other agreements that will be announced soon, according to Minister Tarek El Molla. The government had announced plans to step up exploration activities in FY2018-19 as the country marches toward natural gas self-sufficiency and bids to become a regional energy export hub.

Oil Ministry downplays suggestions that Noor field could be 3x Zohr - ENTERPRISE

Monday, 2 July 2018

Oil Ministry advises caution on reports of the size of the Noor field: Oil Minister Tarek El Molla pulled the brakes on reports on reserve figures on the Noor gas field off the coast of North Sinai. He tells Youm7 that the numbers being reported are not official and are not sanctioned by the Oil Ministry. The local and international press had caused a stir last week with reports that Italy’s Eni could unlock as much as 90 tcf of natural gas reserves from the Noor field, would make it about 3x the size of the supergiant Zohr gas field, if true. El Molla noted that the concession agreements for the field have yet to be ratified by the House of Representatives, so Eni would not have even started operations on the field yet.

A source in the industry tells that while the seismic studies are still in progress, drilling of the well won’t take place until later this year — and won’t reach its planned target depth before early January 2019. The source also points out that “on average, exploration wells have a success rate of around 20-25%,” calling it “absolutely extraordinary and extremely unlikely” that it would yield a mega-find on the scale suggested by the press last week.