Italy’s Eni has announced that it has found a “super giant” gas field off the coast of Egypt, calling it the “largest-ever” found in the Mediterranean Sea
Eni said that the discovery in its Zohr prospect “in the deep waters of Egypt” could hold a potential 30 tcf of gas, spread over an area of 100 sqkm, representing one of the world’s largest natural gas finds. The huge reserves were found at a depth of 1,450 metres in the Shorouk Block offshore Egypt.
“Eni will immediately appraise the field with the aim of accelerating a fast-track development of the discovery,” Eni said in a statement. Commenting on the discovery, Eni’s CEO, Claudio Descalzi, said, “This outstanding result confirms our expertise and our technological innovation capacity with immediate operational application, and above all shows the strength of the cooperation spirit amongst all the company’s units which are at the foundation of our great successes.”
The company’s statement said, “The discovery, after its full development, will be able to ensure satisfying Egypt's natural gas demand for decades.” Eni has been in Egypt for about 60 years already. Descalzi said, “Our exploration strategy allows us to persist in the mature areas of countries which we have known for decades and has proved to be winning, reconfirming that Egypt has still great potential.”
Egypt’s petroleum ministry said that the find was equal to about a third of Egypt’s current gas reserves but did not assign a monetary value to it.
“The Egyptian government is very happy with this find,” ministry spokesman Hamdi Abdelaziz said, and added that gas from the field would be used for domestic consumption only, so that the country could become self-sufficient in the next five years.
Eni has 100 per cent working interest in the block which it obtained in January last year through its Egyptian subsidiary.
