Shell Finds Massive Pocket of Natural Gas in Western Egypt
Wed, 09/07/2016 - 9:54amby Seth Augenstein - Digital Reporter
Royal Dutch Shell has discovered a big pocket of natural gas in the western deserts of Egypt.
The fuel source deep under the concession area of north Alam El-Shawish is estimated to contain about 500 billion cubic feet of gas or more, according to a corporate statement to Reuters.
The find could produce up to 15 percent of the overall production of Badr el-Din Petroleum, a company jointly operated by the state and Shell.
With improving technologies and better understanding of geology, untapped sources of fossil fuels have been found underground all over the world in recent years.
Though the discovery could be an energy windfall to that region, it still pales in comparison to some of the largest pockets recently discovered in places near and far.
The Italian energy company Eni said it found a huge reserve of the fuel in the Mediterranean off the coast of their country last summer. Totals could amount to more than 30 trillion cubic feet of gas.
The Marcellus Shale, however, is bigger still. Estimates say some 141 trillion cubic feet of gas remains in the Shale, an arc of underground rock from West Virginia and Ohio up to Pennsylvania and New York, that has become accessible in the last decade due to improvements in the technology used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Claims of health concerns and contamination have fueled controversy surround the enormous potential for the U.S.-based energy source.
________________________________________ALUKO COMMENTARY:
To put things in context, Nigeria has a known gas reserve of about 190 Trillion Cubic Feet Tcf (equal to 190,000 bcf, billion cubic feet), which is about 33 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) of reserve, with a reserve potential of 600 Tcf. Nigeria has a current 5 bcf per day (bcfd) of gas production. At that rate, we would be producing gas for the next 100 years - with potential for 300 years - if we were not flaring off about 2.0 – 2.5 bcfd of its associated gas. About 100Tcf of the reserve is Associated Gas, and 90 Tcf Non-Associated Gas, and it is mostly the associated gas that is currently either being flared, or processed for commercial production, or re-injected. [Note that 1 Tcf = 1000 bcf = 1,000,000 MMcf.]
Bottom line: oil and gas have become "democrato-geographically" available world-wide - including especially in Africa. Going forward, it is those countries that can best add value to them that will survive the fossil fuel commodity exploitation and trade race.
Bolaji Aluko
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