CAIRO: Dana Petroleum said Thursday it saw first oil production from a well in the North Zeit Bay area in Egypt's Gulf of Suez, according to a statement. The oil and gas exploration and production company's Matr-1XST well is located in the North Zeit Bay production sharing contract area onshore in the Gulf of Suez. This follows the recent approval of the Matr Development lease by Egypt's Ministry of Petroleum. Matr-1XST, expected to produce 1,200 boepd, is the third well producing oil via the Lorcan Processing Facility operated by Dana in the North Zeit Bay PSC area, in which the company holds a 100 percent interest. In the statement, Dana said it estimates that there are reserves of at least 10-12 million boe within the PSC area. Dana is planning to bring three further discoveries within the Matr Development lease onstream in the next year, the company said. In November, Egypt approved Petro Kareem, a joint venture between Dana and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation that will produce oil and gas from the Lorcan development lease, within the North Zeit Bay concession. Dana's Managing Director in Egypt, Nick Dancer, said, "We'll continue our exploration program this year with drilling campaigns in the Gulf of Suez, in the operated onshore North Zeit Bay and offshore South October PSC areas as well as in the non-operated PSC areas of West El Burullus Offshore in the Nile Delta and East Beni Suef in the Western Desert.” Dana Petroleum has operations in the UK, Europe and Africa. Also on Thursday, Dana Petroleum announced first crude oil production from a well located on the Dutch continental shelf approximately 60 kilometers north west of The Hague Dana has 50 percent interest in the Van Ghent well, located in block P11b within the Medway development area, while operator EBN has the remaining 50 percent. The well will produce oil via the Dana operated De Ruyter platform. The Van Ghent well is expected to produce about 2,000 boepd (net to Dana) in 2012, with an additional 2,000 boepd from the Van Nes well scheduled to commence production in April.
