Eni announced Thursday that it has made a significant oil discovery at the Emry Deep exploration prospect, located in the Meleiha Concession, in the Western Desert of Egypt, 180 miles (290 kilometers) south west of Alexandria.
The Emry Deep 1X well led to the discovery of oil and was drilled to a total depth of 11,900 feet (3,628 meters). The well encountered over 250 feet of net pay in multiple good-quality sandstones of the Lower Cretaceous Alam El Bueib Formation. During production tests the well flowed 3,500 barrels of high quality oil (41-degree API) per day and one million standard cubic feet per day of associated gas. The discovery is now estimated to range between 150 and 250 million barrels of oil in place and will require further appraisal drilling.
The drilling of the well is part of Eni’s strategy to refocus exploration activities in Egypt by targeting deeper plays in the Western Desert.
The full field development foresees an early production phase from the current well which will be followed by the drilling of other development wells in 2012 to reach a production level of approximately 10,000 barrels of oil per day in the next months. Production will be routed to the nearby treatment facilities of Meleiha field. The short time to market of this discovery is also a result of Eni’s strategy to focus on fast track development of conventional assets and those with synergies.
This result confirms that the Meleiha concession still holds significant un-tapped deep exploration potential and that the recently acquired 3D seismic survey has boosted the potential of the deep Lower Cretaceous and Jurassic formations.
Eni owns a 56-percent working interest in the Meleiha Concession through its affiliate IEOC (International Egyptian Oil Company), with partners Lukoil (24%) and Mitsui (20%). Agiba, a joint operating company owned by IEOC (40%), Mitsui (10%) and EGPC (50%) is the operator of the Emry Deep project.
