The company has announced preliminary estimates showing a potential 15 billion cubic metres of gas, along with condensate by-products. Eni achieved this major success through the Nidoco NW2 Dir NFW well, which drilled to a depth of 3,600 metres and encountered a 60-metre thick Messianian age gas-bearing sandstone layer with excellent petrophysical properties, and more gas in the overlying Pliocene section. The new field will go into production in two months, tied in to the existing Abu Madi gas treatment plant, 25 kilometres away. This fits Eni's new strategy, re-focussing on close-by opportunities with high potential value, quick exploitation and useful infrastructure to hand. Eni, through its subsidiary IEOC (International Egyptian Oil Company) Production BV, owns 75 percent of the West Abu Madi development lease, with BP holding 25 percent. Petrobel, equally owned by IEOC (50 percent) and EGPC (50 percent), is the operator of the concession. Eni has been present in Egypt since 1954 through its IEOC subsidiary and is the main hydrocarbon producer in the country, with a daily production of 180,000 barrels of oil equivalent (AGI)