US independent Apache said today that the Phiops-5 appraisal well in Egypt's Western Desert tested 8279 barrels of oil and 400 thousand cubic feet of natural gas per day.

The well was tested from the Cretaceous Alam El Buieb (AEB) formation and recorded one of the highest test rates measured in the Western Desert, said Apache in a statement.

Phiops is the largest of five fields discovered by Apache and its joint venture partner, Khalda Petroleum Company, in the Faghur basin of the Western Desert since 2006.

Apache will carry out further wildcat drilling and acquisition of 740 square kilometres of new 3D seismic, said the company in a statement.

A new pipeline from Phiops to the Khepri-Sethos facilities is expected to be completed in July.

New high-pressure pumps and additional storage at Kalabsha and Khepri-Sethos are expected to increase production capacity in the Kalabsha area from about 4000 bpd to around 20,000 bpd in early next year.

The Phiops field is located in the South Umbarka concession around 4 kilometres northwest of Apache's Kalabsha field.

The Phiops-1X discovery, drilled late last year, hit 173 feet of oil pay in the AEB formation.

The company is currently drilling two additional wells at Phiops with three more planned for later this year.