Dana Gas has started drilling a well in the North El Arish concession, in the Eastern Mediterranean Basin, offshore Egypt.

The well, named Merak-1 is being drilled by the Tungsten Explorer drillship, contracted from ADVantage Drilling Services SAE – a joint venture between ADES and Vantage Drilling.

The location is in 755 meters of water in the North El Arish concession, also known as Block 6. Dana has stressed that the block is located in the Eastern Mediterranean Basin “where other world-class giant natural gas discoveries have been made in recent years,” hinting it may want to replicate the successes recently made by ExxonMobil, Eni, and Noble Energy with their gas finds in Cyprus, Israel, and Egypt, respectively.

The Merak-1 is expected to take approximately 70 days to drill.

“Prospective resources to be added from this well in the case of exploration success could reach 4 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas. The discovery of a world-class resource of this size could easily support an offshore field development. If Merak-1 is successful, additional exploration and appraisal drilling will follow,” Dana Gas said.

Dr Patrick Allman-Ward, CEO of Dana Gas, said: “We have commenced an exciting exploration program in our Egypt Block 6 Concession Area. Until now, all of our Egyptian operations have been onshore the Nile Delta. Whilst we continue to optimize production from our 14 existing fields and explore new prospects in the Nile Delta region, the potential addition of new world-class gas resources offshore presents an opportunity for significant growth in our Egypt business that would be transformative for Dana Gas.”

Dana Gas production from Egypt is currently over 34,000 boepd.