The Italian oil and gas company Eni is to start drilling works at Zohr gas field offshore Egypt today, Tarek el Molla -Egypt's petroleum minister- told Al Ahram Saturday. This comes four months after Eni's discovery of supergiant Zohr gas field in the Mediterranean Sea. Eni is to drill around 20 wells with investment cost estimated at around US$12 billion that will be totally paid by the Italian firm, the minister said. The drilling works are set to be executed over 26 months. After finishing drilling works , Zohr field is expected to produce around 2.7 billion cubic feet daily, el Molla stated. He clarified that the Egyptian government will sign the contracts for the development of Zohr gas fields this week after agreeing upon the development plan and the Gas Sales Agreement. The minister said that The Petroleum Projects & Technical Consultations Co- Petrojet, Balaeim Petroleum Co- Petrobel, and Italy's Eni have received the location to start logs works. In August 2015, Eni has discovered gas reserves of up to 30 trillion cubic feet in the Zohr prospect in Egypt's Mediterranean, making it the biggest gas discovery ever made in Egypt. The discovery was made in the Shorouk block that was awarded to Eni in January 2014 following an international bid, Eni said. The well 'Zohr' is located in the economic waters of Egypt's Mediterranean, at the depth of 4,757 feet in the sea (1,450 metres).
