Egypt signs 5 agreements to search for oil, gas with $40M investments

CAIRO - 14 February 2023: Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El-Molla, signed Tuesday five agreements with national and international companies to search for oil and gas and produce them in four regions in the Western Desert and North Sinai offshore in the Mediterranean, with minimum investments of $40 million and the drilling of 11 new wells.

 The agreements include an agreement for the Egyptian General Petroleum Co (EGPC) with Egyptian National Petroleum for Exploration and Development Company (ENPEDCO) to search in the south of Ras Qattara in the Western Desert. 

The company will implement a work program in the region that includes drilling three exploratory wells with a minimum investment of about $7 million during the research periods, provided that these investments are doubled if a commercial discovery is achieved.

In addition, the EGPC signed another agreement with Kuwait Energy Company in the Burj Al Arab development area in the Western Desert, in order to pump new investments from the company, at a minimum of about $4 million, to exploit petroleum reserves. This agreement includes drilling two wells.

The third agreement was signed by the EGPC with two global companies, Energean and INA Industrija Nafte, with a minimum investment of $14 million and a signature grant of $2 million, and the drilling of 3 exploratory wells, in the area east of Bir al-Nuss in the Western Desert.

Furthermore, the EGPC signed an agreement with the Italian company, Eni, in the southwest region of Meleiha, Western Desert, to pump new investments from the Italian company into the region, with a minimum investment of about $7 million, and to drill two exploration wells within the framework of the agreement's obligations.

The EGPC also agreed with Perenco Company in the North Sinai offshore region in the Mediterranean to pump more investments on the part of the company in a new area for research and exploration of natural laurels, with a minimum investment of $8 million, for research operations and drilling of a new exploration well.