Abstract: Nile Delta Success 1: An example of Host Government and Foreign Industry strategies converging to create new value

MILES, ROBERT, and JEFFREY LELEK

Since 1993, gas exploration in the Nile Delta has been extremely successful, with Industry discovering 15 new fields. Amoco has an interest in 12 of these, with a success rate of 70%. Play emphasis has shifted during this time from Messinian incised valley fills to Middle Miocene basin floor fans to Pliocene bright spots. This explosive growth in activity and resource addition was driven by strategic initiatives and advanced technology application. This paper addresses the former; a separate paper addresses the latter.

A convergence of government and corporate strategies fostered increasing exploration. Beginning in the late 80's, the Egyptian Petroleum sector put into effect measures to encourage exploration in the Nile Delta, an underexplored gas condensate province. Redefined concession rights included gas production sharing, with product price indexed to world oil. Regular bid rounds offered prospective acreage, including deep water. Concurrently, Amoco Egypt revised its strategies to include becoming Egypt's largest private integrated natural gas company. These government and company strategies have resulted in Amoco building the largest lease position in the Nile Delta (32,000 gross and 16,000 net sq. km), making increasingly major investments in exploration, and committing to increasing capital projects throughout the entire gas value chain.

This talk will present an historical view of these strategies, fiscal changes, exploration trends, and discoveries. The importance of gas market will be addressed, along with the future resource and commercial potential of this key area in the eastern Mediterranean.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90942©1997 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Vienna, Austria