International Egyptian Oil Company (IEOC) has started gas production from its North Bardawil field in the Mediterranean off Egypt’s coast.

The company says the expected maximum production rate from the field will be 95 million cubic feet a day (cf/d).

IEOC, the Egyptian subsidiary of Italian oil company Eni, has a 60 per cent stake in the North Bardawil concession and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company owns 40 per cent.

The operator is Petrobel, a joint operating company comprised of IEOC and the state-run Egypt General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC).

In 2008 IEOC recorded 240,000 barrels a day (b/d) of oil from its Egypt operations.