The development of Egypt's Zohr field is a record in the oil industry on the basis that it is 80 percent complete in less than two years after the discovery was made, Italian oil giant Eni announced on Tuesday.
The Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail held a meeting with Eni's CEO Claudio Descalzi on Tuesday, which focused primarily on the future of Zohr's field and "the positive impact it will have on the national energy economy," the company said.
Descalzi outlined the progress made with the rapid development of the project, the statement read.
"Thanks to the significant operational synergies that Eni has been able to exploit with its facilities in the area, the development of Zohr is 80 percent complete less than two years after the discovery was made, a record in the oil industry," the statement continued.
The Zohr gas field is an offshore natural gas field located in the Egyptian sector of the Mediterranean Sea and viewed as the largest gas discovery in the Mediterranean.
Eni discovered the field in 2015 and plans that operations will start by the end of 2017 with a potential capacity of 850 billion cubic meters.
"With a potential of 850 billion cubic meters of gas in place, not only will Zohr be able to satisfy almost all of the total domestic gas demand for the coming decades, it will also allow Egypt to return to being a net energy exporter," Eni noted.
The Italian company has been present in Egypt since 1954, operating through its subsidiary Italian Egyptian Oil Company (IEOC). The company is the main producer in the country with production reaching approximately 230,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
By Ebru Sengul
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr
