MILAN — Italy's oil and gas major Eni has made a big oil discovery in the Western Desert of Egypt, part of the group's strategy of refocusing exploration activities in the country by targeting deeper plays in the Western Desert region. The discovery, at the Emry Deep exploration prospect, located in the Meleiha Concession 290 kilometers south west of Alexandria, is estimated at 150-250 million barrels of oil in place and will require further appraisal drilling, Eni said in a statement on Thursday. The full field development foresees an early production phase from the current well to be followed by the drilling of other development wells in 2012 to reach a production level of approximately 10,000 barrels of oil per day in coming months. Production will be routed to the nearby treatment facilities of Meleiha field. Eni owns a 56 percent working interest in the Meleiha Concession. Russia's Lukoil holds a 24 percent stake and Japan's Mitsui owns 20 percent.
