Ukraine's state-owned Naftogaz Ukrayiny plans to accelerate oil and gas production at the Alam El Shawish East concession in Egypt and is also looking at options for developing new license areas in the country, it said late August 19.
Naftogaz's reserves in Egypt are small, at just 0.4 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas and 8.6 million barrels of liquids, according to the company's 2019 annual report, spglobal.com reports.
The company had initially planned to sell its Egyptian business in 2017, but is now ready to further develop concessions.
"For the effective development of Naftogaz's assets in Egypt, it is necessary to accelerate the growth of hydrocarbon production in the Alam El Shawish East concession area, as well as to accelerate the implementation of major infrastructure projects," Naftogaz said in a statement.
The comments came following a Cairo meeting Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), a partner at the concession.
Read alsoUkraine says no plans to resume gas purchases from Russia – ReutersIn 2006, Naftogaz entered into a production sharing agreement in Egypt for Alam El Shawish East before actually starting extraction in 2014.
At the time, Naftogaz voiced hopes to produce daily some 7,000 barrels of oil and 0.7 million cubic meters of gas. Current production data for the concession is unavailable.
Other assets
Naftogaz said it would also look to further develop its South Wadi El Mahareeth and Wadi El Mahareeth concessions in Egypt's Eastern Desert following a meeting with its partner there, GANOPE (Ganoub El-Wadi Holding Company).
In Ukraine, Naftogaz said late July it started drilling a new gas well in Kherson region. The design daily flow rate at the Strilkove field is 40,000 cubic meters.
