The Italian energy company Edison and the British gas group BG have discovered a significant offshore natural gas deposit near the Nile delta, Edison said in a statement on Monday.
Exploration in the zone, funded equally by the two groups via the West Delta Deep Marine venture, found "significant volumes" of hydrocarbons, the statement said.
A test well has produced more than one million cubic meters (35 million cubic feet) of natural gas per day, and 1,100 barrels of light oil per day.
The ninth such discovery in the area in two years, it confirmed the site's "very high potential," the statement said.
Part of the reserves will go to the Egyptian market under the terms of a contract signed in 1999 with the Egyptian oil company EGPC, while the three firms plan to build a natural-gas terminal to export the rest.—afp
©--Agence France Presse.
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
