Apache Corporation has signed a Gas Sales Agreement (GSA) with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) covering 2.1 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas from the Qasr field on Apache's Khalda Concession in Egypt's Western Desert.
Total revenue to both parties under the 25-year agreement, net of estimated development and infrastructure costs, is approximately $5.5 billion. Apache owns a 100-percent contractor interest in the Khalda Concession.
"Principal terms include supplying 300 million cubic feet (MMcf) of gas per day to the Egyptian market, which more than doubles our current production of 275 MMcf per day," said Apache president, chief executive officer and chief operating officer, G. Steven Farris. "All told, Apache has a market for 650 MMcf of gas per day in Egypt.
"While early production operations have commenced under another existing agreement, this GSA will provide the basis to reach the full contracted quantity during 2005," Farris said. "Qasr is the most significant gas discovery in the Western Desert in the last decade and perhaps the most significant in Apache's history.
Field development, final engineering design and tendering operations are under way to accommodate approximately 90 miles of new pipelines and other facilities that will permit the most efficient use of existing gas processing capacity located in the vicinity of the Qasr discovery. The Egyptian government has granted a 95-square-mile development lease.
Apache Corporation is a large oil and gas independent with core operations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom North Sea, Egypt and Western Australia. — (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
