The American junior Apex International Energy announced on Monday (January 18th) that it had acquired a new crude field in the Egyptian concession of South-East Meleiha (SEM) located in the Western Desert. The discovery was made on the SEMZ-11X well, established 10 km west of the Zarif field, the nearest producing field.
Egypt has announced that it has discovered a new field of crude oil on the SEMZ-11SX well. Post-drilling data shows work that reached a total depth of 5,700 feet and resulted in the interception of 65 feet of oil in the Cretaceous sandstones, particularly in the Bahariya and Abu Roash G formations. Apex is investigating the possibility of drilling other potential pockets of rough in these formations. The first pumping tests resulted in a plateau of 2,100 barrels of oil per day without water injection.
This discovery is part of a program to drill three wells, of which it is the second. The first, drilled in December 2020, revealed oil on a 17-foot column. It was also drilled to 5,700 feet deep and tested at a rate of 100 barrels of oil per day. “These oil discoveries are an important step in the growth of our company and constitute the validation of our strategy to develop an oil and gas company through a combination of drilling and acquisitions,” said Roger Plank, founder and CEO of ‘Apex.
However, Egypt has been trying for several years to diversify its primary energy mix in order to reduce its dependence on oil. The limitation of fuel quotas for companies has already led to the conversion of many heavy industries to fuel gas, thus making it possible for the first time in 2016 to pass natural gas as the first component of the primary energy mix (42.4 million tonnes Oil equivalent against 42 million TOE for oil). Egypt is a significant producer of hydrocarbons, accounting for 0.7% of world oil production and 1.5% of natural gas in 2018. The country does not produce coal, and only imports it. a small quantity intended for the steel industry.
