The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) has announced a new oil and gas discovery in the Abu Sennan brownfield in Egypt’s Western Desert.
- The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation announced a new oil and gas discovery in Abu Sennan, Western Desert, Egypt.
- Initial testing of the GPR-1X well revealed significant yields of oil and gas, with potential reserves of two million barrels of recoverable crude oil.
- Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum is increasing sector investments, planning $1.2 billion for 2024/2025 and a broader $7.2 billion strategy by 2030.
The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) has announced a new oil and gas discovery in the Abu Sennan brownfield in Egypt’s Western Desert, as per a statement by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.
The Egyptian Western Desert is a vast expanse of the Sahara Desert, covering over two-thirds of Egypt’s land area.
According to the Ministry, early test results from the GPR-1X well show promising outputs, up to 1,400 barrels of crude oil and one million cubic feet of gas per day from the Bahariya formation.
DON’T MISS THIS: The African country suffering the most from Iran’s and Israel’s missile strikes
Egypt’s bold investment in oil exploration
It comes as Egypt ramps up investment in its oil sector. Last year, the government announced plans to invest $1.2 billion in the 2024/2025 fiscal year to drill 110 exploratory wells. This is part of a broader strategy to invest $7.2 billion in drilling 586 exploratory wells by 2030.
The new find is expected to boost Egypt’s reserves by an estimated two million recoverable barrels of crude, according to Arab Finance.
EGPC Chairman Mohamed Abdel Majeed said the well is currently undergoing testing at the production station. He also noted encouraging signs of additional hydrocarbon deposits in the Abu Rawash G and B formations, based on recent electrical logging data.
DON’T MISS THIS: African countries’ response to the escalating Iran-Israel conflict
This is the second discovery in the area in just three months, following another made in March. Both breakthroughs, the ministry said, were aided by artificial intelligence technologies deployed by EGPC teams.
Officials say the discovery highlights the untapped potential of the Western Desert and shows the value of utilising modern technologies to revitalise mature fields.
Egypt is striving to establish itself as a regional energy hub, capitalising on recent large-scale discoveries, most notably the Zohr gas field in the Mediterranean, which is estimated to contain 30 trillion cubic feet of gas.
