A source at the Ministry of Petroleum said that the Italian company Eni and Tharwa Petroleum Company will begin digging the first exploration well of the Nour gas field in the concession area in the Mediterranean after obtaining the necessary approvals from the Ministry of Petroleum. Drilling is expected to begin in mid-September. The source explained that the Italian company is now implementing a three-dimensional survey that will be completed in the coming weeks. He said Eni and Tharwa Petroleum share the foreign partner's stake in the field, with the latter at 15%, while the remaining is owned by Eni. Media reports have indicated the discovery of the world's largest gas field within the Shorouk concession in Egypt's economic waters in the Mediterranean Sea. The size of the field will be finalised and announced after data collection. The field's initial reserves are estimated at more than 90tn cubic feet, three times the size of the mega Zohr gas field. In a parallel context, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz confirmed that Israeli energy shares had fallen sharply after local reports that a giant Italian company working in the energy field in cooperation with Egypt had discovered a huge gas field under the Mediterranean Sea. Israeli shares lost between 4% and 5% on Tuesday's trading due to fears that the development of Egyptian fields, especially Nour, would hurt prospects for cooperation. The gas reserves in the Nour field are estimated at 2.5tn cubic metres of gas, and it may be among the largest gas fields in the world.
