BG
Group offshore Egypt gas discovery
Posted: 18 June 2003
BG Group and partners Shell Egypt NV and Edison International announced
today the successful completion of the Rosetta-11 exploration well
in the Rosetta Concession, offshore the Nile Delta.
The Rosetta-11 well marks a Pliocene gas discovery in a new field,
Rashid North, 20 kilometres north east of the Rosetta field. Rosetta-11
was drilled to a depth of 1,605 metres in a water depth of 160 metres
and was suspended as a future production well.
Dr Stuart Fysh, President of BG Egypt said: “The success
of Rosetta-11 continues BG Group’s outstanding exploration
record in the offshore Nile Delta Concessions. Since 1997, the Company
has realised a 92 per cent success rate having drilled 23 successful
wells out of a total of 25.
The highly skilled exploration team in BG Group and its joint venture
company, Rashid Petroleum Company, have developed a thorough understanding
of potential gas-bearing structures in the area increasing the chance
of success when drilling.”
The Rosetta-11 well completes the exploration programme in the
Rosetta Concession. BG and partners have applied to the Egyptian
General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) for a Development Lease for
this new discovery and approval is expected to be granted later
this year.
Under the Concession Agreement, all areas of the Concession not
included in a Development Lease or Development Lease application
were relinquished to the Egyptian Government on May 29, 2003.
BG Group has a 40 per cent working interest in Rosetta. Shell Egypt
NV holds 40 per cent and Edison International holds the remaining
20 per cent interest. The partners were awarded the Concession in
1995.
Rashid Petroleum Company (Rashpetco), a joint venture company formed
by BG (20 per cent), Shell (20 per cent), Edison (10 per cent) and
EGPC (50 per cent), undertakes exploration, field development and
field operations on behalf of the Rosetta Concession holders.
BG, Shell and Edison signed a 25-year Gas Sales Agreement with
EGPC in October 1997 to supply gas from the Rosetta Concession into
the domestic market. EGPC received first gas from Rosetta on January
31, 2001, just 45 months from first discovery in April 1997.
The initial stage of the Rosetta development consists of six wells
tied back to a ‘not normally manned’ platform with a
66km gas/condensate pipeline to the onshore terminal for delivery
into the national grid system near Idku, east of Alexandria.
The Egyptian national gas transmission system was initially supplied
at a Daily Contract Quantity (DCQ) of 200 million standard cubic
feet per day (mmscfd). The DCQ rose in two steps, reaching the plateau
level of 275 mmscfd on July 1, 2002.
Since the Rosetta Concession award in 1995, BG has undertaken gross
capital expenditure of US$314 million to realise the first phase
of development. During 2002, Rosetta produced a total of 99.1 billion
cubic feet of gas (bcf) - 21.6 bcf net to BG.
Rosetta has continued to prove a flexible and reliable source of
gas to the Egyptian domestic market and has been able to take opportunities
to produce up to 335 mmscfd during periods of high demand.
This capability helped Rosetta achieve an average rate above the
75 per cent of the Annual Contract Quantity (ACQ) minimum contractual
take level in 2002.
Phase 2 of the Rosetta Concession development will consist of an
unmanned minimum facilities wellhead platform tied back to the existing
Rosetta platform.
The project Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) work started
in March 2003 and first gas from the project is scheduled for the
fourth quarter of 2005.
Posted by Richard Price,
Editor Pipeline Magazine
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