Zohr Production Cap Pushes Egypt Output Lower

17 Jun 2022 Issue: 65 / 24 By: Peter Stevenson

Egypt’s gas output slumped to a 17-month low 6.394bn cfd for April. Production has trended downward since September last year as output at the giant Zohr gas field has been capped at 2.6bn cfd, nearly 20% below capacity.

Fearing a reservoir collapse similar to that witnessed by UK-based major Shell at its West Delta Deep Marine (WDDM) project, Eni and Egyptian authorities have placed a cap on output at the Italian firm’s flagship 21.5tcf Zohr gas field. Production has been limited to 2.6bn cfd, 19% below nominal 3.2bn cfd capacity, since late last year MEES learns.

The cap follows water infiltration issues which first became apparent in Q2 last year, just as Eni was boasting that the field had hit its 3.2bn plateau capacity (MEES, 11 June 2021). After a number of outages linked to water infiltration, a decision was made in September last year to cap output, with the aim of avoiding a complete collapse in the field’s output. Actual average Q4 output of 2.66bn cfd was slightly above the nominal cap but well down on the quarterly record of 2.96bn cfd hit in Q1 last year. (CONTINUED - 935 WORDS)