By Mohamed Adel British Petroleum (BP) and Italy's Eni has estimated the reserves in their concession area in south Baltim at 700bn cubic feet of extractable gas. The gas is in a separate reservoir than the nearby Noras field. A senior source in the oil industry told Daily News Egypt that the drilling of the first well, Baltim SW 1, has been completed, noting that each well requires a drilling time of two and a half months. The drilling of the Baltim SW 1 reached a depth of 4,000 metres, which included 25 metres of water. "The preliminary results of the first well are very promising," the source said, highlighting large quantities of natural gas reserves. He pointed out that the exact quantities of gas will be confirmed after drilling the second well. The source explained that the new discovery is located in south Baltim, east of the Nile Delta, 12km away from the Noras field recently found by Eni. President of BP's North Africa division, Hesham Mekawy, said in an official press release that drilling the first well penetrated a 62-metre-thick, high-quality gas reserving sandstone layer. The well is located 12km from the beach. He noted that the new find is similar to that at Noras, which was discovered in July 2015 and is currently producing 65,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day. The total production of natural gas from Egypt stands at 3.95bn cubic feet of gas per day. Egypt also imports gas through two gasification ships through the port of Ain Sokhna and the Jordan gas line.
