Italian oil major Eni announced Monday that its oil production in Egypt’s Western Desert has reached a record level, doubling its rate in just three years.
Eni said it is producing around 70,000 barrels of oil per day in the region. The company said that is twice the rate from three years ago and comes in large part from the Melehia development lease, located 290 kilometers west of Alexandria, which is producing about 54,000 bpd.
“In January this year, Eni signed a new concession agreement to operate in the Melehia southwest block, where exploration activities on the same deep plays will start within the year,” the company said in a statement. “Eni deems this concession a key element for the sustainability of future production growth in the Egyptian Western Desert.”
In Melehia, Eni’s production has reached 54 thousand barrels of oil per day following the exploration successes obtained in the deep plays of Lower Cretaceous and Jurassic age, where the company is currently carrying out an intensive exploration, appraisal, workover and production optimization activity. The remaining part of the production in the area comes from other three development leases (Ras Qattara, Raml and West Razzak).
Eni, through its subsidiary International Egyptian Oil Company (IEOC), holds a 76% stake in Melehia’s licence. The other partner is Lukoil with a 24% stake. The operator is Agiba, which is equally held by IEOC and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC).
Eni has been present in Egypt since 1954, where it operates through its subsidiary IEOC, and is the market leader with an equity production in 2014 of approximately 210 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day.
