Italy's Eni has started drilling the ninth well in the Zohr field in the deep waters of the Mediterranean Sea at a cost of $300m to add about 250m cubic feet of gas to daily production by the end of this year, bringing the total production of the field to 2.25bn cubic feet. A source in the petroleum sector told Daily News Egypt that the drilling process will be completed next month. The new well's linkage to the national network will be delayed until the sixth gas processing unit (GPU) in Zohr is implemented with a daily capacity of 400m cubic feet of gas. The Zohr's sixth GPU is planned to open in December, bringing the total capacity of the Zohr gas processing plant to 2.4bn cubic feet of gas per day. The source explained that the company has completed drilling eight wells in Zohr, to produce 2bn cubic feet of gas daily. The second phase of the Zohr field has been completed in July, bringing the total production to 2.95bn cubic feet of gas daily, instead of 2.7bn targeted in the project's development plan. He explained that the company aims to invest about $4bn in developing the second phase of Zohr over the next year, with total investments of $16bn. The source stressed that the Ministry of Petroleum aims to finish the next phase of the Zohr field as soon as possible, especially after President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi gave directions to speed up connecting the project's production to the national network. He added that Eni managed to increase production rates of Zohr to 2bn cubic feet of gas daily during this month. Eni has produced its first gas from the supergiant Zohr field in record time for this type of field, in less than two and a half years. The discovery, located in the Shorouk Block, offshore Egypt approximately 190 km north of Port Said, has a potential in excess of 30tn cubic feet of gas. The Zohr production is connected to the new land station in Al-Gamel area, Port Said, for processing before pumping it into the national gas network.
