Egypt announces new oil discovery in Western Desert

Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) has made a new oil discovery in the Abu Sennan field in the Western Desert, the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources announced on Sunday.

Preliminary test results from the new GPR-1X well are highly promising, indicating daily production rates of up to 1,400 barrels of crude oil and approximately one million cubic feet of gas from the Bahariya formation, the ministry said in a statement.

Beyond immediate production, the discovery is also expected to add a substantial two million recoverable barrels to Egypt's oil reserves.

Chairman of the EGPC Mohamed Abdel Majeed confirmed that the well is currently undergoing testing at the production station.

He also highlighted optimistic indications of additional petroleum presence in the Abu Rawash G and B formations, based on electrical logging data.

The discovery is the second in this mature area within the last three months, following the EGPC discovery made in March, the ministry said, adding that both successes came after the EGPC's teams utilized artificial intelligence technologies.

It underscores that the Western Desert has not yet revealed all its secrets, and that employing modern technology opens promising new avenues for exploration in mature fields, the ministry added.

Egypt aims to become a regional trade hub for oil and liquefied natural gas after major discoveries were made in the country over recent years, including the Zohr gas field in the Mediterranean, which holds an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of gas.

(Cover: An oil depot in the mountains. /VCG)