Cairo:Dragon Oil, a subsidiary of Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC), has announced its plans to fund the largest 3D seismic survey project in the Gulf of Suez, Egypt. This ambitious project will cover an area of 1,035 square kilometers and aims to boost opportunities for discoveries and enhance oil production in the Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company's (GUPCO) operational zones.
According to Wam, GUPCO, which operates as a collaboration between Dragon Oil and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), has signed a contract with the global technology firm SLB to undertake the survey. This project will employ Ocean Bottom Node (OBN) technology, and the contract signing was attended by Eng. Karim Badawi, Egypt's Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.
The seismic survey is set to begin in November 2026 and is expected to take approximately two years to complete. It will focus on surveying around 80 percent of GUPCO's development areas, aiming to improve geological data accuracy, identify new oil opportunities, support sustainable production, and elevate production rates.
This initiative is part of Dragon Oil's broader strategy to leverage modern technologies and increase output from the Gulf of Suez fields, anticipating the extension and amalgamation of GUPCO's development areas.
Previously, Dragon Oil supported GUPCO in conducting the first OBN seismic survey in the central Gulf of Suez in 2020, covering over 350 square kilometers. The survey addressed exploration challenges, enhanced the understanding of subsurface geological structures, and pinpointed promising oil opportunities with improved precision.
After processing the survey data in 2022, GUPCO drilled five exploratory wells, achieving an 80 percent success rate, a significant improvement from the previous 25 percent success rate. These wells added approximately 40 million barrels of stock tank oil initially in place (STOIIP) and helped GUPCO reach its highest daily production levels since 2019.
The upcoming project aims to build on these results by providing more accurate geological data across GUPCO's development areas, supporting future drilling locations, and increasing opportunities for oil discoveries, aligning with Dragon Oil's expansion and growth goals in Egypt.