Italian oil and gas services provider and contractor Bonatti Group has been awarded an electrical and instrumentation contract for the Zohr gas development project in Egyptian waters.
Bonatti’s scope of work is focussed on the onshore area of the project however, and includes the supply of key services, material and equipment required for the safe installation of the project’s onshore electrical, cable, instrumentation, telecommunication and fire and gas equipment.
Bonatti’s latest contract win follows the one awarded by EPC contractor Bechtel to Bonatti’s subsidiary Carlo Gavazzi Egypt in July, and in a way strengthens the company’s position in the North African market.
The Bonatti Group has a long-standing presence in Egypt, with an almost fully-local workforce that has worked on projects in the country for decades.
The supergiant Zohr offshore gas field was discovered in 2015 in the Egyptian section of the Mediterranean Sea, and is the biggest gas field ever found in the Mediterranean with an estimated 850bn cubic metres of gas in place.
The approval process for development of the field by the operator, Italy’s Eni, was completed in February and first gas is expected by the end of 2017.
Once a net gas exporter, Egypt turned into a major importer of LNG as growing demand outstripped production.
The field is expected to come into production at the end of the year and will save Egypt billions of dollars in hard currency that would otherwise be spent on imports.
