Global Partners Helping Egypt Bring Oil and Gas to the World (By NJ Ayuk)

Global Partners Helping Egypt Bring Oil and Gas to the World (By NJ Ayuk)

With its key oil fields maturing, domestic gas consumption on the rise, and Europe on the hunt for African energy to replace Russian supplies, Egypt is counting on foreign investors to help it meet both current and emerging demand — no surprise given that the Egyptian petroleum industry has depended on private-public partnerships with global organizations for decades.

A full 100% of the country’s petroleum production involves foreign investors, including some of the best-known companies in the industry, such as Shell, BP, Eni, and APA Corporation (formerly Apache). According to the International Trade Association, between 2015 and 2021, Egypt signed just shy of 100 deals with international oil companies (IOCs) — worth USD17 billion — and offered signing bonuses for the drilling of 319 wells. In 2022 alone, there were 53 new oil and gas discoveries in Egypt, according to the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources’ 2022 Achievements Report.

But this isn’t a case of Egypt auctioning off potentially prolific blocks (as of January 2021 proved reserves stood at 3.6 billion barrels of oil and 75.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas) then sitting back and merely collecting royalties.

The only way IOCs and independents can become involved in Egypt’s upstream sector