Italy’s Major Oil Group Finds Biggest Gas Field Off Egypt Coast

Italy’s major oil and gas group, Eni, says it has found a gas field off Egypt’s Mediterranean coast which could possibly be one of the world's largest natural gas fields.

The company released a statement on Sunday saying that the recently discovered gas field is large enough to help Egypt meet its natural gas needs for decades to come.

“According to the well and geophysical data available, the field could hold a potential of 30 trillion cubic feet (850 billion cubic meters) of lean gas in place,” the statement added, Presstv.ir reports.

The statement released by the company further said that the well that led to the discovery of the gas field, known as Zohr field, was drilled off Egypt's Mediterranean coastline at a depth of 1,450 meters. Based on the estimates, the gas field covers an area of about 100 square kilometers (60 square miles).

“Zohr is the largest gas discovery ever made in Egypt and in the Mediterranean Sea and could become one of the world's largest natural gas finds,” Eni said.

The discovery was made following previous major gas discoveries in the Mediterranean in recent years.

Italy’s Eni is the biggest foreign company producing energy in Africa. The company has been working in Egypt for more than 60 years through its Egyptian subsidiary, IEOC, which is one of the main energy producers in Egypt producing a daily output of 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent.