Egypt’s new oil well runs at a capacity of 2,500 barrels per day

 The first well of Egypt’s offshore North Safa oil field in the Gulf of Suez started production this week.

The first production well runs at a capacity of 2,500 barrels per day, while the second well, for now under construction, is expected to be completed in mid-January, according to the Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company (CUPCO), developer of the field.

With the second well put in production, the field will reach 6,000 barrels per day, a rate targeted for the field’s first phase of early production, and with drilling another seven new wells, 12,000 barrels per day in the long run.

The first phase was implemented by a coalition of Egyptian companies that includes Enppi, Petrojet, and Offshore Petroleum Services to install a production station and extend two production lines, with a total investment of 125 million U.S. dollars.

GUPCO is a joint venture between the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation and UAE state-owned Dragon Oil.

At the end of December, the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources announced  that 29 agreements with a total investment of about 1.2 billion U.S. dollars for oil and natural gas exploration in the country have been signed in 2023.

The ministry said in a statement that 65 new oil and gas sites, including 51 for oil and 14 for gas, were discovered in the Western Desert, the Gulf of the Suez, Nile delta, and Sinai Peninsula.

It added that 87 new wells were drilled in 2023.Egypt’s total production of petroleum in 2023 amounted to about 74 million tons, including 28 million tons of crude oil and condensates and 45 million tons of natural gas, it said.