OREANDA-NEWS. RWE Dea Egypt has produced first gas from the Disouq concession in the Egyptian Nile Delta. The project encompasses the development of seven gas fields in the area to produce a total of approx. 11.4 billion cubic metres of gas. Disouq is the first natural gas project to be brought into production by RWE Dea as operator in Egypt.

Disouq Concession Map with Gas Fields

RWE Dea is pleased to announce that the first gas from the Disouq concession, in which RWE Dea Egypt holds 100% of all shares and with the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) as state partner, has been delivered to the Egyptian National Grid. The production is expected to ramp-up progressively during the commissioning period to reach a rate of around 1.4 million cubic metres of gas per day. A peak production level of around 4 to 4.5 million cubic metres per day is expected to be achieved in mid-2014 when additionally a central treatment plant will start producing.

“We're excited to be able to start production in this RWE Dea growth project,” says Dirk Warzecha, Chief Operating Officer of RWE Dea AG. “We have until today produced oil as operator in the Gulf of Suez for almost 40 years and are now proud to be able to extend our long-term commitment in Egypt to include our own-operated gas production in Disouq.” The gas produced from this particular project is to contribute materially towards supplying the growing energy market in Egypt.

RWE Dea plans to produce the total volume of approx. 11.4 billion cubic metres of gas in the first two project phases. “All members of the project teams in RWE Dea and Suez Oil Company, from exploration and construction of the gas treatment plant all the way through to pipeline installation and commissioning, have done an excellent job in order to achieve the production launch,” says Maximilian Fellner, General Manager RWE Dea Egypt.

RWE Dea plans to develop additional natural gas potential in the areas adjoining the reservoirs already discovered and belonging to the concession.

The Disouq concession is located in the Kafr el Sheikh Governerate, in Egypt's gas-rich region of the Nile delta that reaches all the way to the Mediterranean. The concession currently comprises a total area of 3,217 square kilometres and was awarded to RWE Dea in July 2004.

Including its predecessor company, RWE Dea Egypt has already been engaged in upstream operations in Egypt for almost 40 years and has produced oil in the Gulf of Suez as operator for three decades now. In recent years, the Company has made a number of large gas discoveries in Egypt and extended its portfolio substantially by acquiring additional concessions. RWE Dea is engaged in 11 onshore and offshore concessions in Egypt with a total area of about 6,500 square kilometres.