Super-giant Zohr gas field onstream

Production from the super-giant Zohr gas field, offshore Egypt, began on 20 December 2017. The field is operated by Eni, through its joint venture with The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), and is the largest natural gas discovery yet to be made in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Zohr field is estimated to have a total potential of up to 30tn cf of gas in place. Eni, through its joint venture Petrobel, operates the Shourouk concession that contains the Zohr field. BP completed its purchase of a 10% interest in the concession from Eni in February 2017, while Rosneft purchased a 30% interest from Eni in October 2017.

Delivery of first gas from Zohr completes BP’s programme of seven upstream major project start-ups in 2017. It follows the earlier start-ups of the Khazzan project in Oman, Persephone in Australia, Juniper and the Onshore Compression project in Trinidad, Quad 204 in the UK, and the first phase of the West Nile Delta project, also in Egypt. Bob Dudley, BP Group Chief Executive, commented: ‘We’re well on the way towards our goal of delivering 800,000 b/d production from our new projects by 2020.’

In other news, BP and Bridas Corporation have completed the creation of their 50:50 venture Pan American Energy Group (PAEG), the largest privately-owned integrated energy company operating in Argentina.