NOVATEK Enters Egyptian Shelf
NOVATEK has obtained the first share in overseas project, El Arish field in the Egypt’s shelf. Though it isn’t a big field, the results of the company’s operation could show the extent of efficiency of the Egypt’s projects for one of NOVATEK holders – Gazprom.
NOVATEK announced yesterday it had bought out from Egypt’s Tharwa Petroleum S.A.E. 50 percnet in El Arish field, the Mediterranean Sea’s shelf. Under the concession agreement, NOVATEK may conduct geological survey for four years and, if necessary, extend to nine years the term of work required for geophysical survey and drilling two wells.
Should any hydrocarbon reserves of production extent be discovered, the development term for each field would be 20 years with the optional prolongation for another five years. The given territory is roughly 2,300 sq km; of which a half is at the depth of up to 50 m, while the maximum depth of the sea reaches 500 m.
In NOVATEK, they consider the area promising but refuse to come up with some definite data about the potential reserves, dates or production amount, saying everything will depend on the survey. The success of the project will determine the next moves of the company on Egyptian market in particular and overseas in general, said Mikhail Lozovoy from NOVATEK. NOVATEK will explore and produce from El Arish pari passu with Tharwa Petroleum S.A.E.; the companies sealed the framework memorandum on cooperation a year ago.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 28, 2007
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