Dana Gas, the UAE-based exploration and production company, has discovered additional gas reserves in Egypt.

Drilling work at the offshore West el-Manzala concession in the Nile Delta found additional reserves in the Abu Madi formation and a new pool in the El-Wastani formation.

On test, the well produced 14.1 million standard cubic feet a day of gas, with 718 barrels of condensate from the Abu Madi Formation, and 5.9 million cubic feet a day of dry gas from the El-Wastani Formation, according to a statement released by Dana Gas.

The preliminary estimate of discovered reserves in the new pool is in excess of 60 standard billion cubic feet of gas. Dana Gas is preparing a development plan for the pool.

Reserves at the Abu Madi formation were estimated at 50-90 billion cubic feet when gas was discovered there in September 2010.

“The discovery at the South Abu El-Naga-2 well represents a new era of shallow wells that can be drilled at low cost with fast production to meet Egypt’s gas production demands,” said Hany Elsharkawi, Dana Gas Egypt president, in the statement.

Egypt has doubled its gas reserves in the past five years to more than 70 trillion cubic feet. It now produces more gas than oil and is among the world’s 10 biggest exporters of liquefied natural gas (LNG).