bp Egypt makes gas discovery in East Nile Delta

bp Egypt has made a significant gas discovery around 75 km north of Damietta city and only 35 km to the northwest of the company’s Temsah offshore facilities. The deepwater exploration well, named Salamat, is the deepest well ever drilled in the Nile Delta. It is the first well in the North Damietta Offshore concession granted in February 2010 and operated by bp.

The well was drilled using the sixth-generation semi-submersible rig Maersk Discoverer in water depth of 649 m and reaching a total depth of around 7,000 m. The wireline logs, fluid samples and pressure data confirmed the presence of gas and condensate in 38m net of Oligocene sands in Salamat.

Further appraisal will be required to better define the field resources and to evaluate the options for developing the discovery. bp has 100% equity in the discovery.

“With a hydrocarbon column in excess of 180 m, the discovery increases our confidence in the materiality of the deep Oligocene play in the East Nile Delta,” said Mike Daly, Executive Vice President Exploration at bp:

Hesham Mekawi, bp Egypt Regional President, said, “Standalone and tie-back to the nearby Temsah infrastructure development options are currently being evaluated.”