Eni announced on 21 August that the Zohr gas field had reached the target plateau production of 2.7bcf/d set out in the plan of development five months ahead of schedule. A second 216km, 30-inch pipeline connecting the offshore subsea production facilities to the onshore treatment plant started up on 18 August. Together with the completion and optimisation of the plant treatment capacity, the new pipeline paves the way for an increase to 3.2bcf/d by year-end, Eni said.