UAE – Mubasher: Dana Gas, a leading gas company based in Sharjah, announced it has begun drilling operations at its Egypt’s offshore Merak-1 well, one of three world-class exploration prospects in Block 6, on 20 May.

The deep-water exploration well is located in 755 metres of water in the North El Arish concession at Block 6 in the Eastern Mediterranean Basin, according to a press release.

The Merak-1 well will be drilled with the 6th generation drillship “Tungsten Explorer”, on hire from ADVantage Drilling Services SAE, a joint venture (JV) between ADES International and Vantage Driller II Co, Dana Gas revealed.

The well’s drilling operations, commenced last Monday, are expected to take nearly 70 days, the company highlighted.

The Merak prospect may contain up to 4 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas resources in the case of exploration success.

In 2007, Dana Gas acquired the Centurion assets onshore the Nile Delta in Egypt and 48 exploration wells were drilled with a 67% success rate resulting in 25 new pool discoveries since that time.

Furthermore, proved plus probable reserves jumped by over 120%, while production increased by 50%.

Dana Gas’ production from Egypt, the most populous Arab state, currently reached over 34,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd).

Patrick Allman-Ward, CEO of Dana Gas, commented: “We have commenced an exciting exploration programme in our Egypt Block 6 Concession Area. Until now, all of our Egyptian operations have been onshore the Nile Delta.

“Whilst we continue to optimise production from our 14 existing fields and explore new prospects in the Nile Delta region, the potential addition of new world class gas resources offshore presents an opportunity for significant growth in our Egypt business that would be transformative for Dana Gas,” he added.