Dana Gas has abandoned the offshore Egypt Merak-1 well after failing to make a commercial discovery, the company reported in an Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange missive. It began drilling the well in May 2019, and expected up to 4trn cubic feet of gas from the well.
The well is at 755 metres depth in the North El Arish concession in Egypt (block six). After drilling to 3,890 metres, reaching 46 metres of sand in the Miocene objective interval, Dana Gas decided to plug and abandon the well. Costs are expected to be below budget.
This was the company’s first foray into Egypt’s offshore segment, with all of its assets in the nation onshore the Nile Delta. However, block six contains three other independent prospects, the potential of which are “unaffected by the Merak-1 well result,” according to Dana Gas.Â
During H1 2019, Dana Gas produced 34,100 barrels of oil equivalent per day from Egypt.
