Oil from a previously unexploited field in Egypt’s Gulf of Suez is now flowing, BP announced on Tuesday.
BP has commenced oil extraction from a dormant field in the Gulf of Suez, Bikya Masr reports. Plans to exploit oil from the NS377 field had been delayed, but it is now being piped by BP’s field partner Beach Energy to the Ras Ghara onshore processing facility owned by Petrobel.
From Ras Ghara the crude oil is transported 74 miles north to the main Petreco oil center and export terminal at Abu Rudeis, according to the paper. The limited 1,000 barrel of oil per day production is expected to ease fuel shortages that have disrupted life for vehicle owners who have had to wait in long lines at stations over the last few weeks.
There are a total of three untapped oil fields at the North Shadwan concession that have yet to reach their potential.
Nothing is said of environmental precautions being taken to ensure minimal damage to the marine ecosystem, but yesterday’s news that a new oil spill discovered in the Red Sea threatens Red Sea coral reefs should provide some indication of Egypt’s regulatory history.
Meanwhile, BP has recently settled a multi-million lawsuit for leaking oil into another Gulf – the Gulf of Mexico in the United States.
We are sympathetic to people who rely on vehicles to get around and require the fuel to do so, but digging into new oil reserves merely prolongs the inevitable: soon there will be none left.
Are we going to sit on our hands and wait for that day to arrive, or are we going to prepare for it by changing how we get around?
:: Bikya Masr
image via wikicommons
More on BP and Oil:
New Oil Slick in Red Sea Threatens Coral Reefs
In fact when someone doesn’t know afterward its up to other people that
they will help, so here it occurs.