On 18 October 2019, Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co. (EGAS) confirmed the organization of a licensing round including 11 blocks in Western Mediterranean Sea in Q1 2020. New acquired seismic and processed legacy seismic will be available. It is understood that 4 blocks might also be offered in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.   In Western Mediterranean Sea the area includes several structural domains namely the Northern Egypt Basin and its Matruh Sub-basin, the Herodotus Basin and the Mediterranean Ridge. The area is under-explored with only two offshore exploration wells:    Kiwi 1 was P&A, dry by Equinor (Statoil) in 2010 in 2,706 m of water. The objective was the Upper Miocene sandstones (4,500 m). The well failed to find these Upper Miocene sandstones but good reservoir properties were found in the Oligocene (Rupelian) series.      Sidi Barani 1 was P&A as a dry hole by Phillips in 1976 at a WD of 50 m. The well reached a TD of 4,394 m. Objective were in the Cretaceous and Jurassic series.    Seismic data acquired and reprocessed by PGS indicate that the West Mediterranean area has the potential to be the western extension of the Nile Delta gas trend in the Herodotus basin. PGS revealed that sediment thickness is significant in several areas and about 240 potential leads have been identified.   In deeper water, the region has been divided into two parts: the Mediterranean Ridge and the Herodotus Basin. Multiple potential plays have been identified, including Pliocene deep marine clastics plus Oligocene and Miocene pre-salt clastics, both of which have been proven in the Nile Delta. A Cretaceous carbonate play has been mapped along the northern boundary of the Northern Egypt Basin with structures longer than 150 sq km. The shelf area contains also a possible extension of the proven onshore Western Desert plays which are centred on Cretaceous and Jurassic clastics and carbonates. Cretaceous traps are expected in the Herodotus basin.
Egypt, Nile Delta (Dev)