Egypt's petroleum ministry said on Wednesday two new onshore natural gas discoveries had been made in the Nile Delta — the country's first in two years — as part of efforts to attract fresh investment and boost output under its exploration strategy. UK-based Harbour Energy made the first discovery through Disouq Petroleum Co. (PETRODISOUQ) at the North Sidi Ghazi 9-1 well, while UAE-based Dana Gas achieved the second through El Wastani Petroleum Co. (WASCO) at the Salma Delta-6 well in West Qantara, the ministry said in a statement. Both wells are being prepared for production with a combined capacity of 19 million cubic feet (mcf) of gas per day. Output from Western Desert Discoveries In the Western Desert, the ministry said Khalda Petroleum had reported multiple new finds, including the SHAI-3X and WD 33J-1X wells, which together are producing more than 3,550 barrels of crude oil and 23 mcf of gas per day. Agiba Petroleum Co. added the Dura-44 well, yielding over 500 barrels per day (bpd), while the General Petroleum Company (GPC) brought its GPU-1X well in the Abu Sennan concession onstream at 350 bpd. Petrosannan Co. discovered oil at East Alam El Shawish through the HG34/1 D-1X well, producing about 1,000 bpd. The ministry said Petrobakr Petroleum and Cheiron also made three further discoveries in the Eastern Desert, South Ghazalat and North Umm Baraka areas, with reserve evaluations and testing ongoing. It added that the Western Desert discoveries were made in geological layers being produced for the first time, expected to encourage deeper drilling and wider adoption of artificial intelligence tools that have supported recent exploration success. Between July and mid-October, Egypt's petroleum sector has made 18 new oil and gas discoveries, 13 of which are already in production, adding a combined 14,000 bpd of oil and condensates and 44 mcf of gas per day, according to the ministry. Attribution: Amwal Al Ghad English Subediting: Y.Yasser
