MILAN, Italy, May 25 (UPI) -- Italian energy company Eni announced it made a "significant" discovery of oil in the Western Desert of Egypt.
Eni said it encountered more than 250 feet of net oil pay during drilling operations at its Emry Deep 1X well, located about 180 miles southwest of Alexandria in the Western Desert.
The company said initial production tests yielded around 3,500 barrels of oil per day and 1 million cubic feet per day of associated natural gas.
"The discovery is now estimated to range between 150 (million) and 250 million barrels of oil in place and will require further appraisal drilling," the company said in a statement.
Eni said operations at the site are part of a strategy to refocus its efforts in Egypt on deeper plays in the Western Desert. The well was drilled to a depth of 11,900 feet.
"The full field development foresees an early production phase from the current well which will be followed by the drilling of other development wells in 2012 to reach a production level of approximately 10,000 barrels of oil per day in the next months," the company said.
