Eni fires up second Zohr production unit

Italian oil and gas company Eni has started up of the second production unit (T-1) of the Zohr project located in the Mediterranean Sea off Egypt.

Eni said on Thursday that the second unit will increase installed capacity by 400 MMScfd, just four months after the field’s start-up.

Zohr now has a capacity of 800 MMscfd, equivalent to 150,000 boe per day, of which 46,000 boed net goes to Eni.

According to the company, the production ramp-up is planned to continue, with the same exceptional performance, in order to reach 1.2 bcfd in May 2018, 2 bcfd by end 2018 and the production plateau (2.7 bcfd) in 2019.

The Zohr field, the largest gas discovery ever made in Egypt and in the Mediterranean Sea, is located offshore, within the Shorouk Block, some 190 km north of Port Said. Zohr was discovered in August 2015, obtained the Development Lease approval in February 2016, and started production in December 2017 with a time-to-market of 2.3 years.

Eni noted that the project is playing a fundamental role in supporting Egypt’s wish to cease LNG imports in 2018.

Eni holds a 60% stake in the Shorouk Block, Rosneft 30% and BP 10%. In March 2018, Eni agreed to sell a 10% stake in the concession to Mubadala Petroleum.

The project is executed by Petrobel, the operating company jointly held by Eni and the state corporation Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), on behalf of Petroshorouk, jointly held by Contractor (Eni and its partners) and the state company Egyptian Natural Gas holding Company (EGAS).