Nile Delta Natural-Gas Potential is Significant

By Mark Kirschbaum and Jessica Robertson July 2010

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An estimated 223 trillion cubic feet (tcf) (mean estimate) of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas is present in the Nile Delta Basin Province in the eastern Mediterranean region. Undiscovered, technically recoverable resources are those that have yet to be discovered but, if found, could be produced by using currently available technology and industry practices.

This study is the first U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assessment of this basin to identify potentially extractable resources. The USGS also recently completed an assessment of the adjacent Levant Basin Province, estimated to contain 122 trillion tcf (mean estimate) of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas. (See related Sound Waves article "Natural-Gas Potential Assessed in Eastern Mediterranean.")

Above: Eastern Mediterranean region, showing locations of four assessment units in the Nile Delta Basin Province. (Map not definitive for political boundaries.) Modified from figure 1 in USGS Fact Sheet 2010-3027. [larger version]

"The Nile Delta Basin Province has significant natural-gas potential, with estimated resources comparable to some of the other large provinces around the world and bigger than anything we have assessed in the United States," said USGS Energy Resources Program Coordinator Brenda Pierce. "This assessment furthers our understanding of the world's energy potential, helping inform policy and decision makers about potential future energy supplies."

"This study is particularly germane in light of recent attention given to natural-gas resources as a potential bridging fuel in a transition to a carbon-constrained global economy," said Pierce. "Taken together, the Nile Basin and Levant Basin assessments establish the eastern Mediterranean region as having world-class potential for undiscovered natural-gas resources."

Natural gas is used for various purposes, primarily for electricity generation in the industrial, residential, and commercial sectors. The Nile Delta Basin Province also holds an estimated 1.7 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and 5.9 billion barrels of natural-gas liquids (mean estimates). Worldwide consumption of petroleum in 2008 was about 31 billion barrels.

The USGS conducted this assessment as part of a program to estimate the undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources of priority petroleum basins around the world. To learn more about this assessment, please see USGS Fact Sheet 2010-3027, "Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the Nile Delta Basin Province, Eastern Mediterranean," and visit the USGS Energy Resources Program.

Natural-Gas Potential Assessed in Eastern Mediterranean May 2010

Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the Nile Delta Basin Province, Eastern Mediterranean - USGS Fact Sheet 2010-3027 USGS

USGS Energy Resources Program USGS

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July 2010

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in this issue:

cover story:
Coastal Erosion at Cape Hatteras, NC

Geological Impacts of the Feb. 2010 Tsunami in Chile

USGS Tracks Sediment on Molokai's Reef

Significant Natural-Gas Potential in Nile Delta

Girl Scouts Explore Geology

Earth Science Day in Menlo Park, CA

Knowledge Management Workshop

David Rubin to Receive Pettijohn Medal

Students Contribute to Modeling Morphologic Change

July 2010 Publications