Italy’s Eni has begun drilling the Thuraya prospect on the Northeast Arish block in the Egyptian Mediterranean.

Though Eni was only awarded the block earlier this year, previous operator Dana Gas – which made a last-minute bid to retain the acreage flagged up the prospect as “huge” and said repeatedly that it planned to drill Thuraya itself, subject to finding a farm-in partner.

Dana said that Thuraya’s prospective reserves were split between two plays with a total “mean potential of 17+tcf” gas in place. Of particular interest was “a very large Cretaceous carbonate reef developed on the distinct Dakar Basement High,” which, Dana said, bore similarities to Eni’s 21.5tcf Zohr field 160km to the northwest.

Eni is using the Saipem 10000 drillship which it has contracted for Mediterranean drilling until Q3 2023 with an option until Q1 2024. The Saipem 10000 earlier this month finished drilling a development well at Eni’s giant Zohr field and before that drilled the Fagr prospect on the Shorouk block south of Zohr.

Thuraya lies on, and possibly overlaps, the maritime border with Gaza and/or Israel needless to say there is no delineated Israel/Gaza ‘boundary’ (see map). Prospects for development of Gaza’s only gas discovery to date, 2000’s 1tcf Gaza Marine find took a step forward last month with Egypt state firm Egas saying it would spearhead development.

Eni has been snapping-up acreage in Egypt’s offshore Mediterranean in recent months, partnering up with US major Chevron at the nearby Narges block where drilling is also ongoing.