Dana Gas, the Middle East’s first and largest private sector natural gas company, has announced two more gas discoveries at its concessions in the Egyptian Nile Delta: Sharabas-1 and Sama-1. These are the latest in a string of discoveries resulting from the company’s aggressive drilling campaign in Egypt, which began in 2008.
The Sharabas-1 discovery, located in the West El Manzala concession, tested at 7 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscf/d) of gas with 198 barrels per day (bbl/d) of condensate. The estimated reserves for this discovery are about 28 billion cubic feet (bcf) gas plus the associated condensate.
The Sama-1 discovery, located in the West El Qantara concession, tested at 13 MMscf/d of dry gas from a reservoir of Messinian age. The estimated reserves for this discovery are about 48 bcf gas. Based on the preliminary analysis of the testing data, the well has the potential to produce in excess of 20 MMscf/d of gas. A new 3D seismic survey is planned to better define the extent of this gas accumulation, with the potential to increase its reserves considerably. The dry gas nature of the hydrocarbons produced by Sama-1 well offers the opportunity for an early production start-up via a 30 km pipeline to the Company’s South Manzala plant.
Commenting on these latest discoveries, Dana Gas Chief Executive Officer Mr Ahmed
Al Arbeed declared: “We are very pleased that our Egypt exploration programme is continuing to yield discoveries. The Sharabas-1 and Sama-1 discoveries will boost Dana Gas’ production and profitability, and will take us closer to achieving our target production of 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day by the end of the year – a target that we are already well on the way to achieve. I am confident that the Dana Gas team will also maintain our excellent delivery rates and bring these discoveries on stream soon.”
Dr Hany Elsharkawi, President of Dana Gas Egypt said: explained that the exploration programme is continuing to progress well on all fronts. “In addition to the Sharabas-1 and Sama-1 exploration discoveries, Dana Gas has also successfully drilled and tested an important appraisal location at Salma Delta-2 in the West El Qantara concession, and good productivity has also been confirmed at the previously announced Tulip-1 discovery, also in the West El Qantara concession.”
Salma Delta-2 tested at 12.5 MMscf/d of gas with 352 bbl/d of condensate confirming the potential of at least 200 bcf of wet gas in this area, while Tulip-1 tested at 10.6 MMscf/d of gas with 252 bbl/d of condensate confirming a potential of about 27 bcf of wet gas.
Dana Gas is the sixth highest natural gas producer in Egypt, and ended 2008 with a daily production rate from its Egyptian operations of 31,640 boe, a figure that has already increased to over 37,000 boe this year. The Company has made a number of significant discoveries in the nile Delta in Egypt over the past year.
