Italian oil company Eni has made a new ‘significant’ gas discovery in the Baltim South West exploration prospect, located in the Baltim South license, in the conventional waters of Nile Delta, offshore Egypt.

Eni, through its subsidiary IEOC, holds a 50% stake in the license of Baltim South, while BP holds the other 50% stake. The operator is Petrobel, an equal joint venture between IEOC and the state company Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC).

This new discovery, achieved through the Baltim South West 1X well, is placed 12 kilometers from the coast, 25 meters of water depth and 10 kilometers North of the Nooros field, discovered in July 2015.

The Italian company noted that Nooros field already reached in May a production of 65.000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and is expected reaching 120.000 boe/d by yearend 2016.

The Baltim South West 1X well, drilled in water depth of 25 metres, reached a total depth of 3750 and penetrated approximately 120 meters of gross gas column and 62 meters of net pay sandstones of Messinian age with excellent reservoir properties.

According to Eni, Baltim South West discovery further confirms the significant potential of the so called “Great Nooros Area”, which is now estimated to hold 70-80 billion cubic meters of gas in place. Eni is already assessing the options for the fast track development of this new find, which like that of Nooros, will exploit solutions able to accelerate the production start-up, through the maximum synergy with the existing infrastructures already present in the area, the company said.

In parallel with the appraisal and development activities, Eni said it will also continue exploring the “Great Nooros Area”, with the drilling of other two wells.

Hesham Mekawi, Regional President of BP North Africa, commented: “Our plan is to utilise existing infrastructure which will accelerate the development of the discovery, and expedite early production start-up.”