CAIRO, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Egypt has brought a new natural gas well in the Western Desert into production on Tuesday, yielding 40 million cubic feet per day, the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said Wednesday.
The new discovery was made by the Egypt-U.S. joint venture Khalda Petroleum Company after it drilled the exploratory Watda well to a depth of 15,000 feet, the ministry said in a statement.
Well logging and production tests confirmed commercially viable reserves, with the well immediately flowing around 40 million cubic feet of natural gas per day after drilling, the ministry said.
To accelerate development, the company laid a 10-km pipeline linking the well to existing production facilities, enabling seamless hookup and flow, it added.
The discovery came as Egypt intensifies exploration and fast-tracks field development to shore up domestic gas output amid rising local demand. ■