Independent oil and gas explorer, Kuwait Energy Company has announced that drilling in its exploratory Shahd-4 well in the East Ras Qattara block, in Egypt’s Western desert has been successful.

In a statement released on 17 December it said that “tests of the Wadi el-Natrun formation achieved flow rates of 1,275 barrels a day (b/d) of condensate with gravity of 51API and 12.5 cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas on choke 32/64”; and 2,400 b/d of condensate and 25m cf/d on choke 64/64”.

Kuwait Energy holds a 49.5 per cent stake in the East Ras Qattara development lease, with the remaining 50.5 per cent held by the operator Sipetrol, a subsidiary of the Chilean state-owned oil company Empresa Nacional del Petroleo.