Eni Makes Three Discoveries in Egypt’s Western Desert

The logo of Italian energy company Eni is seen at the booth of Eni during the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit in Abuja, Nigeria February 10, 2020. (Reuters)
The logo of Italian energy company Eni is seen at the booth of Eni during the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit in Abuja, Nigeria February 10, 2020. (Reuters)
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Eni Makes Three Discoveries in Egypt’s Western Desert

The logo of Italian energy company Eni is seen at the booth of Eni during the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit in Abuja, Nigeria February 10, 2020. (Reuters)
The logo of Italian energy company Eni is seen at the booth of Eni during the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit in Abuja, Nigeria February 10, 2020. (Reuters)

Egypt’s petroleum ministry said on Tuesday that Italian energy group Eni made three oil and gas discoveries in the western desert.

The discoveries include oil, gas and condensate discoveries in the Meleiha concession, and an oil discovery in the South Mleiha concession area.

According to the Ministry of Petroleum, the finds in the Meleiha Development Concession were found via the Yasmin W-1X and MWD-21 wells, which were drilled in the Aman region near the West Meleiha deep field, respectively.

The production tests revealed that it has a daily capacity of 2,000 barrels of light oil and 7 million cubic feet of associated gas.

In the meanwhile, the MWD-21 well has been consistently producing 2,500 barrels of light oil per day.

The SWM-4X well, located 35 kilometers south of the Meleiha field, was used to make the find in the Southwest Meleiha concession area, according to the ministry.

This well produced around 1,500 barrels of oil per day during tests. The combined output of the three wells is around 6,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Eni has had a presence in Egypt since 1954, through its subsidiary IEOC Production. IEOC now produces around 360,000 boepd of equity.



Gold Holds in Narrow Range as Spotlight Shifts to US Jobs Data

FILE PHOTO: 24 karat gold bars are seen at the United States West Point Mint facility in West Point, New York June 5, 2013.  REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: 24 karat gold bars are seen at the United States West Point Mint facility in West Point, New York June 5, 2013. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo
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Gold Holds in Narrow Range as Spotlight Shifts to US Jobs Data

FILE PHOTO: 24 karat gold bars are seen at the United States West Point Mint facility in West Point, New York June 5, 2013.  REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: 24 karat gold bars are seen at the United States West Point Mint facility in West Point, New York June 5, 2013. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo

Gold prices were stuck in range-bound trade on Thursday as investors awaited US non-farm payrolls data that could influence the Federal Reserve's timeline for interest rate cuts.

Spot gold edged down by 0.1% to $3,352.59 an ounce by 0801 GMT. US gold futures rose 0.1% to $3,363.10.

"Gold is looking for new triggers," said WisdomTree commodities strategist Nitesh Shah.

"We had slightly weak ADP data that could potentially point to a little bit of weakness in underlying labor markets, which has been a little bit of a support for gold, but the non-farm payrolls could be a trigger point later."

Data released by ADP showed US private payrolls dropped by 33,000 jobs in June, marking the first decline in more than two years.

The non-farm payrolls report due at 1230 GMT on Thursday is expected to show an addition of 110,000 jobs in June, down from 139,000 in May, according to a Reuters poll.

US equities climbed to record highs after President Donald Trump announced that the US has struck a trade deal with Vietnam, including a 20% tariff on exports to the United States. He has also expressed optimism about a deal with India.

"More trade deals at lower tariffs could build some confidence that inflation will remain benign, thus allowing the Fed to ease monetary policy," ANZ analysts said in a note.

Non-yielding gold tends to perform well when interest rates are low and during times of political and financial uncertainty.

In other precious metals, spot silver rose 0.1% to $36.93 an ounce and platinum was steady at $1,417.85, hovering near a more than 10-year high hit last week, while palladium was up 0.1% at $1,155.97.