(Ecofin Agency) - Egyptian Oil Minister, Tarek El-Molla (photo), has announced that following the completion of the sixth well the Zohr gas field, Italian Eni has commenced the drilling of the seventh well, Zohr-7. The minister declared this during the regular committee meeting set up to assess the execution phases of the Zohr field project development.

El-Molla added that the Zohr-7 is the last well in the production plan which targets gas from Zohr with a capacity estimated at 1bcfpd by the end of 2017 and expected to increase to 2.7bcfpd before 2019 ending, Amwal-al-ghad news reports.

Eni is investing $3.5 to 4 billion to develop the Zohr natural gas production processing plant at a capacity of 2.7 Bcfpd of gas and intends to connect 900 Mmcfpd of gas to the national grid by the end of 2017 or Q1 of 2018.

According to the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation’s Deputy CEO of Production, Diaa Eldin M. Kassem, Zohr field’s production will come online during H2 of 2017.

In a new development, the EGPC during the weekend signed a MoU with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR). According to the MoU, SOCAR will supply Egypt with about 2 million barrels of crude oil for refining, in addition to collaboration in the LNG, infrastructure, petrochemicals industry as well as the agreement to exchange crude oil and petroleum products.

Anita Fatunji