UAE’s Dana Gas Says Makes New Discovery In Egypt

Dana Gas has discovered more gas in Egypt’s Nile Delta, which could soon help alleviate domestic fuel shortages, the United Arab Emirates-based company said on Sunday.

The Begonia-1 discovery well produced 9.4 million cubic feet per day of gas and 133 barrels of condensate, a light oil, during initial test drilling in the Lower Abu Madi Formation.

Total evaluated resources for the Lower Abu Madi zone are between 7 billion and 15 billion cubic feet, along with around 100,000 barrels of condensate, Dana Gas said.

“The company is pleased to announce another successful well discovery, which will add to our production, cash flow and reserves in Egypt,” Rashid Al-Jarwan, acting Dana Gas chief executive said in a statement.

“We look forward to continue our appraisal drilling activities in the months to come.”

Egypt has had to slash exports of gas to free up supply for its own power stations as daily blackouts leave homes and businesses sweltering in the hot summer weather and force officials to beg for gas from Qatar.

Dana Gas said Begonia-1 and other discoveries it has announced in Egypt over the past year could soon enter commercial production and contribute towards Egypt’s gas supplies, although it did not provide a date.

The field will add around 1,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) of production, compared with Dana’s average output in Egypt of 33,600 boepd in the first five months of 2013.

Separately, the Abu Dhabi-listed company said on Sunday it expected to resume production of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from the Khor Mor field in the Kurdistan region of Iraq after repairs to its fire-damaged loading bay are completed in the next few weeks.

The company had said in May it expected to resume production from the field in June.