Thursday, December 28, 2017

Government approves 4 oil, gas agreements worth $230M - EGYPT TODAY

Thu, Dec. 28, 2017

CAIRO – "The Egyptian government approved in its Thursday meeting four new oil and gas exploration agreements worth $230 million," Minister of Petroleum Tarek el-Molla announced.

Two of the four agreements are related to the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) for exploration in the Red Sea and Western Desert areas, while the other two are related to South Valley Petroleum Holding Company (Ganope).

"The agreements include drilling 17 new wells," Molla added in a cabinet press conference.

EGPC chairman Abed Ezz el-Regal announced in September that EGPC will hold a new auction for oil and gas exploration before the end of 2017.

In August, Molla signed three new oil and gas exploration agreements in the Western Desert with a total value of $81.4 million in investments.

The agreements were signed between the EGPC, Royal Dutch Shell and Apex to drill 16 new wells using $23.2 million.

The Ministry of Petroleum launched a sector development program that aims to develop oil and gas exploration, discovery and production, attract foreign investments, restructure the sector’s companies, develop petrochemicals and refineries industries, and improve skills of human resources.

Investment by foreign oil firms in Egypt rose to $8.1 billion in fiscal year 2016/17 from $6.6 billion a year earlier.

SOURCE