16 September 2013, Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Wealth Sherif Ismail said on Sunday that British Petroleum, BP, discovered that the northern part of the Mediterranean city of Damietta has huge natural gas reserves in deep layers.
In press statements, Ismail said the discovery opens the door for international companies to intensify excavations in the depth of the Mediterranean.
The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) Chairman Taher Abdel-Rehim said it took one year to dig the 7,000-meter well. This the deepest well dug so far in the Mediterranean Sea.
The digging operation cost more than 380 million dollars, he said, noting that the discovery encouraged BP to decide digging a similar well at 360 million dollars.
This area is expected to have about 1.2 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, according to initial estimates of BP.
