Minister Of Petroleum Tarek El Molla inspected the first stage of the Atoll gas field developed by the British Petroleum company (BP) off the Mediterranean coast in Damietta on Wednesday.
El Molla said that the gas field is one of the recent important discoveries in Egypt’s oil sector after the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas signed an agreement of principles with BP in November 2015 to accelerate its production.
The Minister held a meeting with the regional director of BP in North Africa, Hesham Mekawi, and officials at the Ministry of Petroleum and the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) to follow up on the progress of the field’s development, whose total investment amounts to $ 3.8 billion.
On his part, chairman of the Pharaonic Petroleum Company Hassan Abbadi said that the gas production in the field will commence at the end of this year, ahead of the ministry’s deadline in 2018,
Atoll, an eastern Nile Delta discovery BP made in November 2017, will bring 250 million cubic feet of oil per day. It proves what BP has believed for many years — that the Nile Delta is a world-class gas basin.
Edited translation from al-Masry al-Youm
