Royal Dutch Shell announced a new gas discovery, potentially amounting to half a trillion cubic feet, in Egypt's Western Sahara on Thursday.
Eden Murphy, chairman and CEO of Shell Egypt, said in a statement that the discovery is one of the biggest in Western Sahara in recent years and added that there could be more undiscovered natural gas reserves in the area.
He added that the area of discovery, which is located in the Alam El-Shawish area of Western Sahara, was named PTI-2.
The new discovery can contribute to the production of an additional 10 to 15 percent out of the total production from the Badr el-Din Petroleum Company, Murphy said.
The Badr el-Din Petroleum Company is a joint venture acting on behalf of the state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and for Shell's production operations.
Shell's focus in Egypt is mostly on the Western Sahara and Mediterranean where the company owns the license for the entire area, including wells.
Reporting by Hussein Abd El-Fettah & Afra Aksoy in Cairo
Writing by Ebru Sengul
Anadolu Agency
ebrusengul@aa.com.tr