Dubai’s Dragon Oil makes first oil discovery in Gulf of Suez

Dragon Oil, a subsidiary of state-owned Emirates National Oil Company, is an upstream oil and gas exploration, development and production company. Photo: Dragon Oil

Dubai’s Dragon Oil has made its first oil discovery in Egypt's Gulf of Suez, state-owned news agency Wam reported.

The discovery is one of the largest in the area in the past 20 years and the field could contain about 100 million barrels in reserves.

The announcement was made on the sidelines of the 2022 Egypt Petroleum Show.

Dragon Oil, a subsidiary of state-owned Emirates National Oil Company, is an upstream oil and gas exploration, development and production company.

In October 2019, it committed to investing $1 billion over five years in upstream assets in Egypt after acquiring BP’s stake in the Gulf of Suez.

Dragon Oil intends to reach production rates of 65,000-70,000 barrels per day this year, compared to an average of 60,000 bpd in 2021.

The hydrocarbons explorer operates concessions in Turkmenistan, Algeria, Egypt, Afghanistan, Tunisia and the Philippines.

Oil prices have remained buoyant in recent months and have rallied to their highest since 2014 on tighter supply, higher demand and production constraints. Geopolitical tension related to Ukraine have also supported a rally in prices.

Brent, the global benchmark for two thirds of the world's oil, was trading at $93.95 per barrel at 3.04pm on Tuesday, while West Texas Intermediate, the gauge that tracks US crude, was at $92.80 per barrel.

The International Energy Agency expects oil demand to rise by 3.2 million bpd this year to reach 100.6m bpd as global economies recover from the pandemic.