Francesco Gattei, the Chief Financial Officer of Eni, an Italian energy company, has announced that the company plans to undertake operations at the Zohr field in Egypt to restore some of the gas production by early 2025. According to Reuters, he mentioned that the net capital expenditure for 2024 will be significantly less than 6 billion euros. He also indicated that the group plans to drill exploratory wells in Indonesia following the discovery of Jangkrik North.
The Zohr field is a joint venture
between Eni, BP, Rosneft, and Mubadala Petroleum, in addition to the Egyptian
Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS). The field, located in the Mediterranean
Sea, is operated by Petrobel, a joint venture between Eni and the state-owned
Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation.
Minister of Petroleum and Mineral
Resources, Karim Badawy, stated that the Zohr natural gas field in the
Mediterranean Sea will undergo operations to drill new wells through the
Italian company Eni in the near future. The minister said that this aims to
develop gas reserves and exploit opportunities to increase gas production rates
from the field, which holds great significance for Egypt.
The Egyptian Cabinet estimated in
July that total investments in the field have reached $12 billion so far, and
are expected to reach $15 billion over the next three years. Work has begun on
drilling the 20th well in the field with an investment of $70 million, and it
is expected that Zohr's production will reach 2.3 billion cubic feet per day
after that.
In a press conference last month, Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly stated that Egypt aims to restore natural gas production in the field to its normal levels by next summer, indicating that the government is working to settle its arrears with production companies.