bp announces gas production from third stage of West Nile Delta development in Egypt

bp announced gas production from Raven field, the third stage of its major West Nile Delta (WND) development off the Mediterranean coast in Egypt.

The approximately $9 billion WND development includes five gas fields across the North Alexandria and West Mediterranean Deepwater offshore concession blocks in the Mediterranean Sea. bp and its partners, working with the Ministry of Petroleum, have developed the WND in three stages.

“Completing this major multi-stage development in the face of many challenges is testament to bp’s long-term commitment to Egypt and our excellent working relationships with partners and the Government. West Nile Delta will make an important contribution to meeting Egypt’s growing energy needs, by providing a cost-competitive and resilient gas supply from the country’s own resources”. Bernard Looney, bp chief executiveRaven follows the Taurus/Libra and Giza/Fayoum projects, which started production in 2017 and 2019 respectively. It produces gas to a new onshore processing facility, alongside the existing West Nile Delta onshore processing plant.

Bernard Looney, bp chief executive, said: “Completing this major multi-stage development in the face of many challenges is testament to bp’s long-term commitment to Egypt and our excellent working relationships with partners and the Government. West Nile Delta will make an important contribution to meeting Egypt’s growing energy needs, by providing a cost-competitive and resilient gas supply from the country’s own resources.”  

Raven is currently producing approximately 600 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscf/d). At its peak, Raven field has the potential to produce 900 mmscf/d and 30,000 barrels per day of condensate.

Karim Alaa, bp regional president for North Africa, added: “The safe start-up of Raven in an extremely difficult period would not have been possible without commitment and close co-operation from the team. Working together with the Ministry of Petroleum and our partners we can now explore the potential use of the West Nile Delta facilities for developing future infill and nearby exploration opportunities.”

In total, the WND development includes 25 wells producing gas to the onshore processing plant via three long-distance subsea tie-backs. The onshore facilities – including the new Raven facility – now have a total gas processing capacity of around 1.4 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day . All gas produced is fed into Egypt’s national grid.

Throughout the different phases of the project, bp has invested in sustainable local community development projects, maximized local content, and created thousands of jobs, direct and indirect, for Egyptian nationals.

bp is the operator and has an 82.75% stake in the West Nile Delta development, with Wintershall Dea holding the remaining 17.25% interest.

• To date, bp has invested more than $35bn in Egypt.
• Through joint ventures with EGPC/EGAS and IEOC (Eni), the Pharaonic Petroleum Company (PhPC) and Petrobel, bp, together with its partners, currently produces around 60% of Egypt’s total gas production. 
• In early 2017, bp acquired a 10% stake in the Shorouk Concession from Eni, which contains the giant Zohr gas field.
•  bp is a 33% shareholder of a natural gas liquids (NGL) plant extracting LPG and propane, United Gas Derivatives Company (UGDC), in partnership with Eni/IEOC and GASCO (the Egyptian midstream gas distribution company).  
• bp is also present in Egypt’s downstream sector through Natural Gas Vehicles Company (NGVC, bp 40%), established in September 1995 as the first company in Africa and the Middle East to commercialize natural gas as an alternative fuel for vehicles.

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