Full speed ahead for Egypt's gas

Eni's parallel-development method has enabled it to smash records at its mega-giant Zohr gas project. Petroleum Economist was given exclusive access to the onshore operations

The nearly complete control room at Eni's Zohr onshore facility on the Mediterranean coast west of Port Said has all the appearances of a mission control centre for a space programme. Semi-circular consoles are arranged in front of a giant screen high up on the wall ahead. Beneath the tiled floor, workers are feeding in and connecting lines of cable—some of the 1,600 kilometres that have been installed thus far at the plant. This building, smelling of newly applied paint and cement, will soon take charge of every single aspect of the Zohr project. It will link by radio to an unmanned control platform 85km offshore, which in turn, by means of fibre-optic cables and hydraulic and electrical li