Italian energy company Eni aims to increase the Noras field production to 1bn cubic feet of gas a day at the beginning of 2017, instead of 700m feet in the current year. A source in the petroleum sector told Daily News Egypt that drilling the development wells showed that Noras' output will be even more gas than the initially-detected potential production of 700m cubic feet of gas a day. He explained that 180m cubic feet gas a day from three wells in Noras will be linked to the national gas grid by mid-September, boosting the total output to 700m feet. The source added that the current production stands at more than 350m cubic feet of gas a day and 3,000 barrels of condensates a day, after the completion of drilling four developmental wells, with a total investment of about $450m. He pointed out that linking the Noras field to production will contribute to compensating the natural decline of domestic production of gas from different concession areas, along with an increase in the gross domestic product. The decline rate is estimated at about 1.2bn cubic feet of gas per annum, equivalent to 100m cubic feet gas a month. The source pointed out that the installation of rented treatment facilities aimed to handle the additional quantities of gases, in order to accelerate the detection process and link it to production to meet the growing needs of the domestic market of natural gas. He explained that detection is achieved through the exploration well Nidoko northwest-2, which has been drilled and linked to production in August 2015, with production rates of about 90m cubic feet of gas a day. The source said that the total of Egypt's natural gas production amounts to 4.5bn cubic feet gas a day, in addition to 1.3bn feet through imports.
