Egypt to invest US$1.8 bn in ambitious offshore gas exploration plans: Minister

Egypt to invest US$1.8 bn in ambitious offshore gas exploration plans: Minister

Tue 04-07-2023 22:11 PM





















VIENNA, 4th July, 2023 (WAM) -- Tarek El Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of Egypt, said his country has ambitious US$1.8 billion offshore exploration plans to drill new gas wells in the Mediterranean Sea and the Nile Delta.

The programme, which involves major international companies, including Eni, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and BP, aims to drill 35 exploratory gas wells from now till July 2025, with 21 planned for the 2023/2024 fiscal year and 14 for the 2024/2025 fiscal year, with total investments of US$1.8 billion.

In statements to the Emirates News Agency on the sidelines of the 8th OPEC International Seminar in Vienna, Austria, El Molla said that Egypt is developing several exp fields in the Mediterranean Sea, Nile Delta, and Western Desert to boost the country’s production capacity.

El Molla stressed that the Egyptian petroleum sector and its international partners have been busy exploring new oil and gas resources over the past five years, discovering 284 new fields, including 217 oilwells and 67 gas wells.

These new fields have added 1.32 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) to the country’s reserves, he added.

El Molla also explained how