(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors)While many Brits were enjoying the long week-end there was some good news for oil & gas explorer and producer Petroceltic (LON:PCI) in Egypt. Italian super-major ENI announced that it had made the largest ever gas find in the Mediterranean in a block adjacent to where the Ireland and UK-listed small-cap has licences. ENI's 30 trillion cubic feet (tcf) gas initial in place (GIIP) discovery Zohr off the coast of Egypt is in the corner of a block adjacent to the North Port Fouad (NPF) licence which Petroceltic shares on a 50:50 basis with the operator Edison. Zohr is around 3.5km from the block boundary and according to ENI covers 100 square kilometres and research house Edison (no relation) says it is therefore possible that the field encroaches into the PCI/Edison block. 'In addition to a possible interest in Zohr PCI has a significant interest in a licence that sits between a number of very large gas fields – Zohr to the west and Leviathan (22tcf) and Tamar (10tcf) which lie to the east offshore Israel' Edison analyst Will Forbes noted. At present Forbes does not factor in any element of the NPF licence into his valuation of Petroceltic as there is still a lot of exploration work to be performed on it but the massive discovery next door should increase interest in Petroceltic's licences. As a result Petroceltic should find it easier to farm down its interests to fund any drilling. 'We note the company also owns an interest in another block (North Thekah) which lies to the south and had seismic shot over it earlier this year. Given its existing production onshore Egypt the country is already a material part of the company's portfolio which could grow as exploration activities offshore join its sizeable onshore exploration acreage' Forbes said Petroceltic shares were up 16.3% in London in lunchtime trading on Tuesday at 62.21p.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.