CAIRO, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said on Tuesday that three new oil and gas discoveries had been made in the Western Desert and the Gulf of Suez.
One well in the Western Desert showed gas-bearing zones with 253 feet (about 77.1 meters) of net thickness and an estimated 12.5 million barrels of oil equivalent. Testing is underway, alongside plans for a 10-million-U.S.-dollar, 23-km pipeline extension and additional drilling aimed at boosting gas output to 30 million cubic feet per day.
Meanwhile, two newly-discovered wells in the Gulf of Suez are also under evaluation for reserve estimates.
The latest finds support Egypt's strategy to position itself as a regional energy hub, bolstered by recent major discoveries such as the Zohr gas field in the Mediterranean, which is estimated to hold 30 trillion cubic feet of gas.
