The Improved Petroleum Recovery (IPR) Group of Companies announced the discovery of a new oil well in the field of Yidma in Alamein, located in the Western Desert. The well is expected to produce 12,000 barrels of light oil and 14 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, said Mervat Nabil, secretary of the vice chairman of IPR Oil Corporation. The oil well produced natural gas from a new layer, "Alam El Buweib" (AEB), for the first time from a depth of 12,000 feet. Nabil stated that IPR is currently developing a plan to develop the discovery to fast track placing the well on the production map. "It opened new horizons for discovering more oil and natural gas from deep layers after the success in detecting natural gas in the Alam El-Buweib layer," Nabil said. IPR constitutes a synergy of specialised oil and gas operating companies with experience and resources in exploration and production, field development and oil field and consulting services. Minister of Petroleum Sherif Ismail signed nine agreements with companies in the natural gas and oil exploration field earlier in November, which required $470m in investments and are the first to be signed since 2010. The agreements were signed with Shell, BICO, Greystone, Petzed and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) to authorise the exploration of petroleum products in Sinai, the Gulf of Suez and the Western and Nubian deserts. Shell only secured three of the agreements to drill 17 wells, worth $13m in investments, in new areas in the Western Desert, a statement from Ministry of Petroleum stated on Saturday. In September, BP Egypt announced a significant gas discovery in the Salamat well, the only one found in the North Damietta Offshore Concession. It is located around 75 kilometres north of Damietta city and 35 kilometres northwest of the Temsah offshore facilities.
