UPDATE 1-Egypt and Eni say drilling ship to begin work at Zohr gas field

(Adds statement from Eni’s spokesman, new paragraph four onwards)

CAIRO, Jan 3 (Reuters) – A drilling ship will arrive in Egypt this month as operator Eni starts work on increasing production from the giant Zohr offshore gas field, Egypt’s petroleum ministry said.

Egypt had planned to become a major gas exporter after Eni discovered the field in 2015, but domestic gas production in the African country has been falling since 2021 reaching a six-year low in 2024.

Average production at Zohr was 1.9 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) in the first half of 2024, well below the peak reached in 2019.

“As already stated by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of Egypt, Eni confirms that it is preparing to resume drilling in the Zohr gas field in the eastern Mediterranean,” a spokesman for the Italian energy group said on Friday.

The Egyptian ministry issued its statement late on Thursday.

The drilling vessel ‘Saipem 10000’ is scheduled to move to Egypt in the coming weeks where it will begin a drilling campaign, using modern technologies, with the aim of increasing gas production, the spokesman added.

Saipem 10000 is a special vessel owned by Italian energy services company Saipem. (Reporting by Nayera Abdallah, Nafisa Eltahir in Cairo and Francesca Landini in Milan; editing by Barbara Lewis)

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