BP makes two gas discoveries in Egypt’s Nile Delta

CAIRO: BP Egypt today announced the Taurt North and Seth South gas discoveries in the North El Burg Offshore Concession, Nile Delta. These are the fourth and fifth discoveries made by BP in the concession following Satis-1 and Satis-3 Oligocene deep discoveries and Salmon-1 shallow Pleistocene discovery.

The two wells were drilled by IEOC on behalf of concession operator BP, using Scarabeo IV rig in water depths of 110 and 78 meters respectively. The wireline logs, fluid samples and pressure data confirmed the presence of gas in one Pleistocene interval in Taurt North and two Plio-Pleistocene intervals in Seth South. Options to tie both discoveries to nearby existing infrastructure are being studied.

Hesham Mekawi, President and General Manager of BP Egypt stated, "The discoveries show our commitment to develop the remaining potential of the shallow reservoirs within the Nile Delta and make the best use of the existing infrastructure. It demonstrates the ongoing cooperation with the Ministry of Petroleum to deliver new gas discoveries and incremental supply to meet the future growth of the gas business in Egypt."

The parties to the North El Burg Offshore Concession agreement are: BP (operator 50%) and IEOC (50%).

Further information

Contacts

BP press office, London: +44 (0)20 7496 4076, bppress@bp.com

BP Egypt: +202 2519 9915

Notes to editors

• Operatorship of the North El Burg Offshore Concession was awarded to BP Exploration (Delta) Limited in June 2005. The concession lies in water depths of 60 to 100 meters. The concession lies between the Ras El Barr BP operated development concession and Offshore Baltim development concession operated by IEOC.
• BP has a long and successful track record in Egypt stretching back nearly 50 years with investments exceeding $17 billion, making BP one of the largest foreign investor in the country. In Egypt, our business is primarily in oil and gas exploration and production.
• To date, BP Egypt, in collaboration with the Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company (GUPCO), BP’s JV Company with the Egyptian General Petroleum Company (EGPC), has been responsible for the production of almost 40% of Egypt’s entire oil production, and currently produces almost 15% of Egypt’s entire oil production. In addition, together with our partners, we currently produce close to 40% of Egypt's total domestic gas demand.
• BP is working to meet Egypt’s domestic market growth by actively exploring in the Nile Delta and investing to add production from existing discoveries. Egypt’s offshore Nile Delta is an important part of the company’s upstream portfolio. BP has interests in eleven concessions in the Nile Delta, with operatorship of six.
• BP is developing the West Nile Delta (WND) project - a strategic project that will supply critical gas to the domestic market
• BP is a 33% shareholder of an NGL plant extracting LPG and Propane, United Gas Derivatives Company (UGDC) partnered with ENI/IEOC and GASCO (the Egyptian midstream gas distribution company).
• BP is also present in the downstream sector through Natural Gas Vehicles Company (NGVC, BP 40%) which was established in September 1995 as the first company in Africa and the Middle East to commercialize natural gas as an alternative fuel for vehicles.