Gulf of Suez Well Discovery Holds Estimated 8 Million Barrels of Oil

The East Crystal-1 is Egypt’s newest exploration well in the Gulf of Suez. The project, conducted by the Gulf of Suez Production Company (GUPCO) in collaboration with Emirati company Dragon Oil, estimates about eight million barrels of crude oil to be found in 2025 alone.

The initial 16-foot layer, dubbed ‘Hawara’, showed an initial estimate of producing about 2,000 barrels of crude oil per day. The underlying honey layer – about 100 feet deep – has yet to be tested, the ministry said. With the East Crystal-1 project, GUPCO plans on drilling two additional wells expected to increase crude oil production by about 5,000 barrels a day, the Suez production company said.

Egypt’s oil production dropped by about 30 percent from its peak in 2021, data from the Joint Organization Data Initiative (JODI) reports. The petroleum ministry anticipates that production volumes may exceed the previous 2021 peak.

This project is the second successful exploration well drilled using seismic technology, known as Ocean Bottom Node (OBN) seismic exploration.