The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) paid about $3.1m per 1m British thermal units (BTU) to Dutch Shell for its share in the natural gas produced from stage 9B in the Borolos field. A source at the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) said that the first phase of the 9B fields will be linked in the first half of this year. He pointed out that the project includes 8 productive wells and 2 exploration wells. The second phase will be linked in the coming fiscal year (FY). He added that Shell aims to increase the production of the Borolos and Rashid fields to 450m cubic feet (cf) of gas by the end of the current FY against the current 400m feet, through linking 100m cf of gas per day (mcf/d) from 9B. The source said that the four wells in 9B have been excavated in the Borolos' deep water wells, and included the two of them in production by the end of last year. Shell has set aside about $500m for investments during 2019/20 in order to implement a number of projects in phase 9B, as well as for the construction of a pipeline to link the West Delta gas fields. The proven reserves of all fields are estimated at about 5tn cf of gas, and about 55m barrels of condensates. Moreover, the source explained that the drilling of the single well in phase 9B fields takes 45 days in the case of stability of navigation in the Mediterranean. The source said that the maximum production capacity of the one well in phase 9B in the fields of the Borlos is 50 mcf/d of gas. The ministry of petroleum aims to increase the productivity of the existing gas fields, and to complete the development of the discovered gas fields, as well as to accelerate the pace of work in order to put them on the production map, thus contributing to the compensation for the natural decline in the productivity of the old fields.
