BP Drills Two Gas Wells in Egypt ... Production Starts in Feb.

BP has completed drilling two wells in the Raven gas field in the Mediterranean Sea, according to a statement issued today by the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.

Egyptian Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi had previously agreed with the British company to expedite the drilling of the two wells and connect them to production, in exchange for the government's commitment to pay BP's dues according to the agreed schedule.

British company BP will begin drilling two new natural gas wells in the West Delta region in the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt next January with investments of $160 million

Egypt has provided foreign companies with new incentives to increase gas production, represented by allowing the export of a certain share of the new production, so that its revenues are used to pay the required dues, in addition to raising the price of these companies' share of the new gas production.

The north African country's daily gas needs amount to 6.2 billion cubic feet per day, while its daily production reaches about 4.6 billion cubic feet, and the government aims to increase natural gas production by the end of this year to about 5 billion cubic feet per day.

Drilling was carried out by the "Volaris DS 12" vessel, which began operations in July of last year, and marine installation works are currently being carried out to connect the wells to the existing production networks in the Mediterranean to start production.

Egypt's marine areas are witnessing increased activity in drilling operations, with "Chevron" launching drilling operations in the western Mediterranean with the "Khanjar-1" well, and "ExxonMobil" starting drilling the "Nefertari-1" well, in addition to "Eni" resuming drilling operations in the "Zohr" field during the current month.

The government is working to increase the quantities of natural gas available to meet its needs, which prompted it to agree on up to 50 shipments of liquefied gas since last April until now, and postponed some shipments to the current first quarter of 2025.

Gas production from the two new wells is expected to start next February, three months ahead of the planned date, thanks to a plan to accelerate drilling and installation operations.