Eni announces new oil discovery in Meleiha Concession of Egypt

Italian multinational oil and gas company Eni has discovered oil in the Meleiha Concession in Egypt’s Western Desert.

Oil was discovered following drilling of the Arcadia 9 well on the Arcadia South structure, which is located 1.5 km south of the main Arcadia field that is currently in production.

The well encountered 85ft of oil column in the Cretaceous sandstones of the Alam El Bueib 3G formation.

It was drilled close to current production facilities and is already tied-in to production, with a stabilised rate of 5,500 barrels of oil a day.

After this discovery, two development wells, namely Arcadia 10 and Arcadia 11, have also been drilled.

The Arcadia 10 well encountered 25ft of oil column while Arcadia 11 encountered 80ft of oil column, within the Alam El Bueib 3G formation.

These three wells have the same oil-water contact in the discovered reservoir, stated ENI.

Arcadia 11 also found 20ft of oil pay in the overlying Alam El Bueib 3D formation.

With this new discovery, 10,000 barrels of oil a day is added to Eni’s gross production in the Western Desert.

Eni stated that due to the implementation of its exploration strategy in the Western Desert through AGIBA, a joint venture between Eni and Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), enables a quick valorisation of the new resources.

In the Meleiha concession, Eni holds a 38% interest through its subsidiary Ieoc while Lukoil and EGPC respectively hold 12% and 50% stakes.

Eni has been operational in Egypt since 1954 and is one of the main producers in the country.

Its current equity hydrocarbon production stands at approximately 320,000boepd.