West Nile Delta (WND) Project involves the development of gas and condensate fields located within the North Alexandria (N Alex) and West Mediterranean Deepwater concessions in the Mediterranean sea, approximately 65km to 85km off the coast of Alexandria, Egypt.
The gas and condensate fields are being developed in phases. The first phase involves the development of five major fields namely Taurus, Libra, Giza, Fayoum and Raven. The Maadi, Viper, Ruby, Polaris and Hodoa discoveries will be developed in later phases.
BP is the operator, holding 60% interest in the N Alex concession and 80% interest in the West Mediterranean Deepwater concession. RWE DEA is the partner in the project holding the remaining 40% interest in the N Alex concession and 20% interest in the West Mediterranean Deepwater concession.
“The overall investment for Phase I is estimated to be $12bn.”
In March 2015, the two partners signed the final agreements for the project with the Egyptian Minister of Petroleum, the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation and the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company. The overall investment for Phase I is estimated to be $12bn.
WND reserves and production
BP and RWE DEA will develop five trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas and 55 million barrels (mmbbl) of condensate reserves from Phase I of the WND project. The existing undeveloped fields and future exploration activities are expected to further boost the production from WND by an additional 5tcf to 7tcf.
First production is scheduled to start in 2017, with peak production expected to reach 1.2 billion cubic feet a day (bcf/d) of gas, which is equivalent to approximately 25% of Egypt’s current gas production.
West Nile Delta (WND) project development plan
The development plan for Phase 1 of the WND project primarily involves the development of 21 production wells with associated subsea facilities tied back to existing neighbouring facilities.
The Taurus and Libra fields will be connected to existing Burullus facilities operated by Burullus Gas (BG), whereas the Giza and Fayoum fields will be tied back to the existing Rosetta plant onshore, which will be modified to accommodate additional production. The Raven field will be connected to a new onshore plant adjacent to the existing Rosetta plant.
BP and RWE DEA signed an agreement with BG Egypt in March 2015, under which the operational rights of the onshore facilities at Rosetta will be transferred to the former two companies starting from mid-2016.
West Nile Delta fields discovery
The Taurus, Libra and Fayoum fields were discovered in 2000 and 2001. The Ruby discovery was made in 2002 by drilling the Ruby-1X well. The field was further appraised in October 2013 and February 2009.
The Raven discovery was made in March 2004. The Raven 1X exploration well, drilled at a water depth of approximately 650m, flowed at rates of up to 37.4 million cubic feet a day of gas and 741 barrels of condensate a day during initial test.
The Polaris discovery was made in July 2004 by drilling the Polaris 1X exploration well to a total depth of 2,178m.
Yetagun Gas and Condensate Field, Myanmar
The Yetagun gas and condensate field straddles blocks M12, M13 and M14 in the Gulf of Martaban, Andaman Sea.
The Giza discovery was made in January 2007 by drilling the Giza North-1 well at a water depth of 668m. The field is estimated to hold 1tcf of gas.
The Hodoa discovery was made in November 2010 by drilling the WMDW-7 well at a water depth of 1,077m and a total depth of 6,350m using the Pride North America semi-submersible rig.
Geology
The Giza, Taurus, Libra, Fayoum, Maadi, Viper, Polaris and Ruby fields hold gas resources within the Pliocene formations, the Raven and Taurus Deep discoveries hold gas resources in the deeper Miocene formations, and the Hodoa discovery holds gas resources within Oligocene formations.
Contractors involved
KBR performed the concept selection activities for the West Nile Delta project under a contract awarded in August 2010. The feasibility study for the project was earlier completed by Granherne, a consulting subsidiary of KBR.
The geophysical and hydrographic surveys over the concessions were performed by Fugro, employing its M/V Western Shore vessel, M/V Geo Prospector, and Echo Surveyor HUGIN 3000 autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The geochemical, sedimentological and micropalaeontological studies on two mud volcanoes located within the project site were performed by Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR) employing the research vessel FS Poseidon.
Other key players involved in the project are YSF, Cameron and Aker Solutions.
