Oil discovery offshore Egypt revives fortunes in mature play - Upstream Online

Oil discovery offshore Egypt revives fortunes in mature play | Upstream Online

Cairo-based independent Cheiron has hit oil in a promising geological play in the Gulf of Suez offshore Egypt and has moved quickly to bring on stream the discovery.

Led by chief executive David Thomas — who previously held vice president roles with Italy’s Eni — Cheiron is Egypt’s biggest home-grown exploration and production player, with assets in the oil-prone Western Desert, the gas-rich Nile Delta as well as the Gulf of Suez.

The company currently produces about 135,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, 90% from its Egyptian assets, with the remainder emanating from Mexico.

Cheiron said its GNN-11 exploration well hit 165 feet of good quality net pay in a Pre-Miocene Nubia formation.

The well was drilled from the recently installed GNN early production facility and is currently producing at a rate of over 2500 barrels per day, driving up GNN produciton to about 23,000 bpd.

This is the first time the Nubia play has been found to be oil bearing in the GNN area of the Geisum-Tawila West concession. The producing reservoir in the main GNN field is in the Nukhul formation.

The probe was drilled into a fault block to the east of the GNN oilfield.

GNN-11 was the fourth well to be completed from the early production facility which lies in the central area of the field and includes a conductor support platform, a mobile offshore production unit and a 10-inch oil export pipeline tied back to the existing Geisum Star production complex.

A further three wells can be drilled from this facility and these will be used to complete the current phase of the GNN drilling campaign.

Cheiron said the new Nubia discovery confirms the exploration potential in the northern part of the Geisum-Tawila West concession where it plans to drill at least three additional exploration wells.

“In a broader sense, the discovery also demonstrates that whilst the Gulf of Suez is a relatively mature hydrocarbon province, it still has significant remaining exploration potential,” added the operator.

The GNN field is estimated to hold over 300 million barrels of oil in place and was discovered by Cheiron in 2019.

Cheiron holds a 60% operating stake in Geisum-Tawila West and is partnered by Kuwait's Kufpec.

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