The Egyptian Minister of Petroleum, Karim Badawy, announced an agreement between the ministry and the Italian company "Eni" to resume drilling operations in the Zohr gas field next December. The minister confirmed during a press conference that the company will drill two new wells, with production expectations of around 220 million cubic meters per day, which will contribute to restoring the previous production levels that were affected by the halt in drilling.
Badawi pointed to the agreement with BP to expedite the introduction of the second phase of the Raven field, which is expected to achieve production of approximately 200 million cubic feet per day by January 2025, contributing to reducing reliance on imports.
It was also agreed with Apache Company to assign four exploratory areas in the Western Desert, with the aim of accelerating their inclusion in the production map, in addition to the planned package of incentives to increase gas production.
The minister added: "Every barrel of locally produced oil is important for Egypt, and every cubic meter of locally produced gas contributes to reducing the import bill.
It is worth noting that the decline in Egypt's production from the Zohr field last year led to the implementation of the "load shedding" plan, resulting in the return of power outages. This announcement comes after Eni was forced to withdraw the Saipem Santorini drilling vessel from the field due to not receiving $1.6 billion in overdue payments from the Egyptian government.