bp today announced gas production from Raven field, the 3rd stage of its major West Nile Delta (WND) development off the Mediterranean coast in Egypt.

The approximately $9 billion WND development includes 5 gas fields across the North Alexandria and West Mediterranean Deepwater offshore concession blocks in the Mediterranean Sea.

Raven follows the Taurus/Libra and Giza/Fayoum projects, which started production in 2017 and 2019 respectively.

It produces gas to a new onshore processing facility, alongside the existing West Nile Delta onshore processing plant.

Raven is currently producing approximately 600 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscf/d).

At its peak, Raven field has the potential to produce 900 mmscf/d and 30,000 barrels per day of condensate.

Karim Alaa, bp regional president for North Africa, said:

The safe start-up of Raven in an extremely difficult period would not have been possible without commitment and close co-operation from the team

Working together with the Ministry of Petroleum and our partners we can now explore the potential use of the West Nile Delta facilities for developing future infill and nearby exploration opportunities

In total, the WND development includes 25 wells producing gas to the onshore processing plant via 3 long-distance subsea tie-backs.

The onshore facilities – including the new Raven facility – now have a total gas processing capacity of around 1.4 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day.

All gas produced is fed into Egypt’s national grid.

bp is the operator and has an 82.75% stake in the West Nile Delta development, with Wintershall Dea holding the remaining 17.25% interest.