A NEW ENERGY ERA FOR EGYPT

“Our location on the edge of the Mediterranean has provided us with a long fishing history and the climate has allowed us to make the most of natural resources, giving Beheira a special status in Egypt,” says MP for Idku Ahmed Nassar. “In fact, this is known as the city of the million palms, recognising our large-scale weaving industry.

“We take pride in the successful businesses we’ve built, although the population has faced a level of hardship over the past few years due to the nationwide economic conditions. For our city, there are funding challenges in sectors such as healthcare, education and general infrastructure.”

As part of the West Nile Delta project, BP is supporting community development in these areas through a social investment programme. “Our plan is to deliver a tailored programme that truly reflects our values, showing respect for local needs and local culture,” says Sherif Selim, the project’s community engagement manager.

For health professionals, new funding is making a difference. In 2016, two hospitals – in Idku and nearby Rashid – received EGY£9.4 million between them to invest in their emergency response services.

At Idku hospital – serving a population of about 150,000 – the donation has funded ventilators, defibrillators, an ultrasound machine, CT scanner, cardiac monitors and medication pumps. “The new machines have already saved lives, and given our doctors more technical experience,” says hospital director and general surgeon, Ahmed Mohamed Al Gameel.

As well as healthcare, the BP social investment programme is supporting local entrepreneurship. Established a year ago, a microfinance initiative has awarded more than 1,000 interest- and fee-free loans to successful applicants to assist them with small business ventures.

“It’s delivering an immediate impact by giving people the chance to achieve an independent, sustainable and sufficient source of income,” says Selim. “And the loans not only help the recipient, but their families as well.”

Administered by non-governmental organisations in Idku and nearby Rashid, last year, loans of up to EGY£10,000 (US$1,100) each went towards a variety of small enterprises, including taxi services, mechanical workshops, cafés, mini-markets, and weaving and fishing businesses.

Women have received almost a third of the loans so far. Among them is Malak Abbas Abu Soliman, who now runs a houseware and textile business from home. “I’ve not worked before, but I needed to help support my husband’s earnings,” she explains. “We have three children in school and the extra income goes towards private lessons to better their education. I’m happy to be able to help support our family for the first time.”

For BP’s regional president, Hesham Mekawi, this commitment to education makes sense for the business, as well as wider society. He’s most proud of the scholarship programme that has, for 16 years, been sending Egyptian graduates to the UK’s University of Cambridge.

“Every year, I meet and interview all the young people and it’s one of my best days in the calendar,” he says. “In 2016, we supported eight students – each one of them so impressive. The only thing we ask in return is that they come back and spend two years in Egypt, working in any field, after completing their studies, to contribute to the development of their country.”

While not all these scholars enter the energy industry, the BP leadership team is conscious of the need to continually nurture local talent and, in particular, women in technical and engineering roles. “It has been a priority of mine to develop national staff over the past period and I am proud to say that 90% of the regional leadership team based in Egypt are Egyptians,” Mekawi says. “But, like the rest of the industry, we can do better when it comes to women.”

BP Egypt is trying to address this gender challenge in many ways. For example, by ensuring that candidate slates and interview panels for job vacancies are diverse, by supporting flexible working when needed, and by robust talent management and development planning to help women achieve their full potential.

It’s still about equal opportunities, and providing the necessary support, according to country human resources manager Nashwa Hamzawy, because “the talent is out there.” That proved to be the case when the business took on five new graduate recruits in 2016 for the Upstream wells organisation – three of whom are female.

Individuals are already leading the way in engineering and technical disciplines, hoping that their work will also inspire other women. Four years ago, drilling engineer Dena Hageb, 26, joined BP on the graduate programme. Now, she’s working for a global team in Houston, US. With a degree in petroleum and energy engineering and a passion for maths and physics, she wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps to become a driller.

“Many of BP’s big discoveries announced since 2012 in Egypt have been led by our younger generation, who have developed through our Challenge graduate programme and are taking on responsibilities early in their careers,” says exploration director for Egypt, Ahmed Hagras.

Among the recent discoveries in the East Nile Delta, the Atoll field has been ‘fast-tracked’ to bring gas swiftly into the Egyptian market as well, through BP’s joint venture, PhPC. Discovered in March 2015, the Atoll field is expected to produce up to 300 million cubic feet a day during its first phase, starting in the first half of 2018.

“Atoll is an important project in the North Damietta concession, that is about 40 kilometres from existing Pharaonic infrastructure,” says Mahmoud Mossad, BP general manager for PhPC. “The early production facilities will incorporate three subsea wells that will be tied back to a pipeline, with gas coming onshore into an existing processing facility. Production from this phase alone should almost match the volume that Pharaonic produces today.”

For BP’s technical team in Egypt, the Atoll deepwater discovery highlighted the geological significance of the Oligocene rock layer, as Hagras explains: “BP started exploration in the Nile Delta very early and made big discoveries in the shallow stratigraphy, mainly in the Pliocene and Messinian.

“However, within these layers of rock, the size of the discoveries became smaller and smaller over time – meaning you need to drill deeper for more resources. The deepest layers, such as the Oligocene, are very rich, and they balance out the decline in the shallower areas. Not only do they provide larger volumes of hydrocarbons, but they are also liquid-rich in the form of gas condensate. In this state, the gas is very versatile and requires less processing, making it more valuable.”

Hagras and his team have also shifted exploration focus towards near-shore and onshore opportunities since 2013. Although they’re studying the same geological structures as farther offshore, the emphasis switches to a lower-cost environment. One early result with this strategy came with
the Nooros-1 discovery in the Central Nile Delta in July 2015, with partner Eni, just 22 kilometres from the coastline and in water depths of 25 metres.

The joint venture drilled a further five wells to test the area, with four resulting in discoveries. First production came only 10 months after the initial find, in what Hagras describes as “a great example of exploration opportunities delivering resources in shorter cycle times.”

BP is also drilling its first Onshore Oligocene well, called Mocha, where it hopes to replicate the success seen in the offshore prospects. The target depth of around six kilometres will make this the deepest well drilled in the Onshore Nile Delta. With the complexity of these high-pressure, high-temperature wells, reaching target could be a lengthy process. But, the team is encouraged by encountering a gas pay in the Messinian reservoir on the way to the target.

Summing up BP’s view on future exploration opportunities in Egypt, Mekawi says, “We believe the Nile Delta is a world-class basin and there is a lot of gas to be discovered here. So, we’re investing here because we believe there’s more to come and because we’re confident that we can bring the know-how, technology and finances that fit with the country’s needs.”

For BP, a business that has operated through joint ventures in Egypt for more than half a century now, the future looks assured, as a new era of gas becomes a reality. With a wave of projects due to come onstream, an interest in the super-giant Zohr – the biggest discovery in the Mediterranean – and continued exploration set to take place in and around incumbent fields, it is hoped that the Nile Delta will yield further resources in the years to come.