Pharaonic Petroleum Company is seeking to accelerate development of Egypt’s offshore Harmattan gas field, a roughly $500mn Mediterranean investment, as Cairo presses producers to raise domestic output and reduce a widening gas supply deficit
Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Karim Badawi directed the company to examine options for shortening the field’s development timetable during a visit to its Port Said production facilities, while calling for greater use of advanced drilling and exploration technologies.
Harmattan is being developed under a roughly $500mn investment by Arcius Energy, the joint venture between bp and ADNOC’s international investment arm XRG. A final investment decision announced in April initially targeted about 150mn cubic feet of gas a day and 3,300 barrels a day of condensates, with the wider development programme envisaging output rising to 200mn cf/d and 4,400 b/d. The original project schedule targeted completion in 2028.
Pharaonic plans to connect Harmattan to the Ha’py production facilities through a 50km pipeline, with ENPPI acting as general contractor in cooperation with Petrojet and Petroleum Marine Services. Technical options are now being assessed to bring production forward.
Pharaonic said it achieved 100 percent of its FY 2025/26 production target and is pursuing further opportunities across Ras El Bar, North Damietta and the offshore El Burg concession. The Tort-6 well is scheduled to enter production before the end of 2026, targeting another 40mn cf/d.
The company is also drilling the West Atoll exploration well using the Valaris DS-12 drillship, with investment of about $91mn and a target depth of 6,000 metres, alongside plans for another exploration well in the Ras El Bar area.
Accelerating Harmattan would carry significance beyond Pharaonic’s production portfolio. Egypt is producing about 4.1bn cf/d of gas against domestic demand of roughly 6.2bn cf/d, according to figures cited by Ahram Online, leaving the country increasingly reliant on imported supply. Bringing additional Mediterranean volumes onstream earlier would help narrow that gap while making greater use of existing offshore and processing infrastructure.
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