Nile Delta Production Challenges - Temporary Production Facility Solutions

Abstract This paper presents the process of an accelerated commissioning of a gas field in the Egyptian Nile Delta in 2013. The Disouq Development Project and Production and Reservoir Teams of RWE Dea (Nile Delta) AG together with DISOUCO (the JV Operator) implemented a Temporary Production Facility (TPF) at North West Khilala Field (Onshore Nile Delta, Egypt) to achieve timely first gas production of 50 MMSCFD during 2013. The careful evaluation of this project can serve as a guide to others who are involved in the planning and preparation of onshore facility installations in challenging geopolitical settings. The installation success on North West Khilala Field was accomplished by carefully focusing on several key areas: an appropriate fit-for-purpose organisation among participating companies, a clearly defined technical scope, and a rational philosophy and effective relationships with regulatory organisations. Active involvement of a fully integrated team of production geoscientists together with drilling, completion, reservoir, facility and commissioning engineers was critical in achieving success. Based on an economic business case RWE Dea AG mutually decided with JV Shareholder Partner EGAS to deviate from the original Plan of Development (PoD) submitted in 2010 and start the construction of temporary production facility at North West Khilala field in parallel to the execution of the approved development project. The work included the perforation, completion and testing of already drilled North West Khilala wells (1 discovery and 2 appraisal wells), finalisation of flowline/trunkline installations from the wells to the temporary production facility and tie-in of the TPF to the national grid export lines. By executing the temporary production facility plan, RWE Dea AG has been able to make a seamless transition from facility design and construction to facility production and export of first gas and condensate in less than 5 months. Introduction The Concession Agreement for gas and crude oil exploration and exploitation for Disouq Area was signed by RWE Dea Nile GmbH (RWE Dea AG), EGAS and the Government of the A.R.E on 20.07.2004, after the Egyptian Parliament ratified the Concession Agreement (CA) and issued it as a law No. 152 of 2004. RWE Dea AG has acted as sole operator with a 100% interest during Exploration, Development and Production. Since year 2007 RWE Dea AG has discovered seven gas fields in the Disouq Concession which is located north of the city of Tanta in Egypt's cultivated Nile Delta belt expanding towards the Mediterranean Sea. The fields are Northwest Khilala (NWK), North Sidi Ghazy (NSG), Northwest Sidi Ghazy (NWSG), South Sidi Ghazy (SSG), Sidi Salem Southeast 1 (SSSE), Sidi Salem Southeast 2 (SSSE) and Disouq (DSQ) (see Figure 1).