In 1998 Shell Egypt was awarded an exploration area of over 40,000 square kilometres in the Mediterranean called the NEMED (North East Mediterranean Deepwater) concession. Shell has conducted three drilling campaigns with the last, a four-well campaign, finishing at the end of 2007.

“Initial results confirmed the discovery of gas from an earlier drilling campaign but final results from the campaign are still confidential and commercially sensitive,” says Eileen Wilkinson, Exploration Manager for Shell Egypt.

“However, we are encouraged that our exploration campaign demonstrated high-grade prospectivity in NEMED. We also proved Shell Egypt’s ability to drill 6,000 metre-plus wells in high pressure formations, through salt layers and to do so ahead of time and under budget.

“The greatest achievement of the recent exploration and appraisal drilling campaign was to complete it without a Lost Time Injury [LTI] or environmental incident. The campaign involved drilling four wells in water depths of between 1,250 and 2,750 metres, hundreds of kilometres offshore and in unknown geology with varying pressures.

“In 2007 Shell welcomed a new partner, ONGC Videsh Limited, which acquired a 33 per cent shareholding in the NEMED concession. This move will enable Shell to accelerate and expand exploration drilling of several untested high potential plays.

“Also in the Nile Delta, the extension of Shell’s offshore Northwest Damietta concession was ratified by the Egyptian Parliament in January 2008 and we look forward to the start of a new drilling campaign in 2009,” concludes Eileen.