Petroleum min. calls for speeding up implementation of 2nd phase of West Delta Gas Production Project

Petroleum Minister Tareq el Moulla called for expediting the implementation of the 2nd phase of gas production from West Delta gas fields (North Alexandria / West Mediterranean Deepwater).

This came during the 6th ordinary meeting of the higher committee to follow up the pace of work in the 2nd phase of the project that involves "Giza", "Fayyoum" and "Raven" oilfields.

In May, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi opened the first stage of the project that involved "Taurus" and "Libra" fields, the minister noted. 

The two fields produced 700 million cubic feet a day (bcf/d), the minister said, underlining that the first stage was implemented eight months ahead of schedule, a matter that helped decrease gas imports and secure the country's needs of natural gas. 

For his part, Chairman of British Petroleum (BP) Egypt Hesham Mekkawy said that his company is facing major challenges to speed up the implementation of the project to start production of "Fayyoum" and "Giza" fields by the end of 2018, with gas production estimated to reach nearly 400 million cubic feet a day (bcf/d).

The West Nile Delta development project includes five gas fields across the North Alexandria and West Mediterranean Deepwater offshore concession blocks. It is being developed as two separate projects to enable BP and its partners to accelerate gas production commitments to Egypt. 

When fully onstream in 2019, combined production from both projects is expected to reach up to almost 1.5 billion cubic feet a day (bcf/d), equivalent to about 30 percent of Egypt’s current gas production. All the gas produced will be fed into the national gas grid.