Egypt approves 3 gas and oil exploration agreements worth $319M

CAIRO - 30 July 2023: The Egyptian Cabinet approved three draft oil and gas commitment agreements for the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company, the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, and a number of international companies, for 13 wells drilled in the Mediterranean and Gulf of Suez, for investments of about $319.5 million.

This included two draft commitment agreements to search for and exploit gas and crude oil, in the Cairo offshore and Masry offshore regions, in the Mediterranean. These were signed between the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company and Exxon Mobil Egypt Limited. Earlier in 2023, ExxonMobil announced that it has secured exploration rights to two blocks, Masry and Cairo, offshore Egypt. ExxonMobil will operate both blocks and hold 100 percent interest.

The third agreement is for oil search, development, and exploitation at the Geisum and Tawila areas west of the Gulf of Suez. It was signed between the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, Pico Petroleum Limited, and the Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC) Limited.

Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum also recently signed an agreement with Barrick Gold and Centamin on the commercial, fiscal, and legal terms for Model of Minerals Exploitation Agreement (MMEA) on a number of concession blocks awarded to the two companies in the international bid round for exploration of gold and associated minerals.