Phase 9b of Egypt’s West Delta Deep Marine project will start producing gas in October, according to Petroleum Minister Tarek el-Molla.

 In a statement he revealed the 9b phase would be completed in the second half of 2019, and aimed to produce 400 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) at its peak. Two wells will come online in October. El-Molla did not say what the initial production rate would be.

The client on the project is Burullus Gas Company (BGC), a joint venture comprising Anglo-Dutch giant Shell, Malaysia’s Petronas and Egypt’s national oil company (NOC), Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC).

Shell acquired its stake in the WDDM project after taking over the UK energy company BG Group, in a sale that was completed in February 2016.

In March 2015, the UK energy company BG Group signed a heads of agreement with EGPC and the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), agreeing to invest $4bn developing phase 9b of its WDDM project.

Prior to BG Group taking over Shell, BG owned a 25 per cent stake in the project. Malaysia’s Petronas also owned a 25 per cent in the project, while EGPC owned 50 per cent.

Earlier this year, Subsea 7 was awarded the engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning contract for phase 9b of the WDDM project. The scope of this contract included connecting six new wells into existing subsea facilities using umbilicals and flexible flowlines.