Italian explorer ENI has started up production of the offshore Baltim South West gas field in Egypt.
It is another fast discovery to market by the aggressive operator.
ENI discovered the field in June 2016 and took Final Investment Decision (FID) in January 2018. Baltim South West thus comes on stream 39 months after discovery and 19 months after FID.
The field is located in shallow waters 12 kilometres off the Mediterranean coast of Egypt in the Baltim South development lease. It lies within the Great Nooros area, some 10km from the Nooros field, an area in which ENI says it “first recognised great gas production potential and where it is conducting other new exploration projects”.
With the start-up of the first well, BSW1, the field is now producing with an initial rate of 100 million standard cubic feet per day (scf/d) from a new offshore platform connected to the existing onshore Abu Madi Gas Plant through a new 44 km long, 26 inch diameter pipeline.
The development programme anticipates the drilling of further five wells with the objective of achieving a production target of 500Million scf/d by the second quarter of 2020. Volumes produced by Baltim South West will further contribute to Egypt’s natural gas export capacity. The overall gas potential from the Great Nooros Area is approximately 3Trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas in place, of which about 2Tcf are in the Nooros field and the remainder in Baltim South West.
ENI has a 50% interest, through its subsidiary IEOC, while BP holds the remaining 50% interest of the contractor’s stake in the Baltim South development lease. The project is executed by Petrobel, the Operating Company jointly held by Eni and the state corporation Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) on behalf of Medgas, jointly held by contractor (ENI and BP) and EGPC.
