Egypt Expands Drilling in Gulf of Suez, North Damietta

A container ship crosses the Gulf of Suez towards the Red Sea before entering the Suez Canal, near Ismailia port city, northeast of Cairo, Egypt October 27, 2018. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo
A container ship crosses the Gulf of Suez towards the Red Sea before entering the Suez Canal, near Ismailia port city, northeast of Cairo, Egypt October 27, 2018. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo
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Egypt Expands Drilling in Gulf of Suez, North Damietta

A container ship crosses the Gulf of Suez towards the Red Sea before entering the Suez Canal, near Ismailia port city, northeast of Cairo, Egypt October 27, 2018. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo
A container ship crosses the Gulf of Suez towards the Red Sea before entering the Suez Canal, near Ismailia port city, northeast of Cairo, Egypt October 27, 2018. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo

The Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum announced Monday that its expanding search activities of oil petroleum and gas, and developing output fields in Ras Shukeir, Gulf of Suez.

This also includes continuing to develop and enhance the efficiency of basic structure and production facilities in the region.

A statement by the ministry revealed that the average of output from the fields of the Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company (GUPCO) reached around 61.7 barrels of crude oil per day during the fiscal year of 2018-2019.

There is a plan to increase the output from fields of Ras Shukeir to around 73,000 barrels of oil per day.

The chairperson of GUPCO, Geologist Khaled Hamdan, said during his meeting with Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla that the company aims to increase investments in Ras Shukair fields from USD391m in FY 2018/19 to about USD503m in FY 2019/20.

GUPCO plans to bring total investments in the fiscal years (FY) 2019/20 and 2020/21 up to USD1.2bn to expand research, exploration, and development activities. The company aims to drill 13 new wells and carry out 12 repair operations, which will contribute to increasing production to targeted rates.

Meanwhile, Shell Oil Company announced that the “Discoverer India” Drillship will begin drilling its first exploration well “Montu” at a depth of 6,000 meters below sea level in the West Delta Deep Marine (WDDM) concession by the end of the month, according to the company’s statement.

“The Company has put a strategy to increase and sustain natural gas production in the Mediterranean through a series of steps, such as exploring investment opportunities in the concession, as well as using innovative ways to explore natural gas in an unconventional way in Egypt, in 20,000 feet marine depth”, said Khaled Kacem, Shell’s Chairman and Managing Director in Egypt.

Kacem stated that Shell supports Egypt in turning into a regional energy hub by taking several steps such as investing significantly to recover Rashid and Burullus gas plant’s production capacity, which contributed with 40 percent of total Egypt’s gas production.

Omar Hilal, Rashid Petroleum Company (Rashpetco) General Manager and Managing Director said: “The Montu Well, which will be drilled with huge investments lies in a Pre-Messinian layer in 6,000 meters depth which is the equivalent to 20,000 feet in a High-Pressure, High-Temperature (HPTP) layer."

"Montu drilling process shall take around five months once they get started, as the well’s reserves are around 4.7 trillion cubic feet (tcf), while the drillship will keep operating for a year as a part of the exploration process that includes another well that is fully owned by Shell," he added.



WTO Slashes 2025 Trade Growth Forecast

Chinese made cars, including Volvo and other brands, are seen at the port in Nanjing, in China's eastern Jiangsu province on April 16, 2025, as they wait to be loaded onto ships for export. (Photo by AFP)
Chinese made cars, including Volvo and other brands, are seen at the port in Nanjing, in China's eastern Jiangsu province on April 16, 2025, as they wait to be loaded onto ships for export. (Photo by AFP)
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WTO Slashes 2025 Trade Growth Forecast

Chinese made cars, including Volvo and other brands, are seen at the port in Nanjing, in China's eastern Jiangsu province on April 16, 2025, as they wait to be loaded onto ships for export. (Photo by AFP)
Chinese made cars, including Volvo and other brands, are seen at the port in Nanjing, in China's eastern Jiangsu province on April 16, 2025, as they wait to be loaded onto ships for export. (Photo by AFP)

The World Trade Organization sharply cut its forecast for global merchandise trade from solid growth to a decline on Wednesday, saying further US tariffs and spillover effects could lead to the heaviest slump since the height of the COVID pandemic.
The WTO said it expected trade in goods to fall by 0.2% this year, down from its expectation in October of 3.0% expansion. It said its new estimate was based on measures in place at the start of this week, Reuters reported.
US President Donald Trump imposed extra duties on steel and car imports as well as more sweeping global tariffs before unexpectedly pausing higher duties on a dozen economies. His trade war with China has also intensified with tit-for-tat exchanges pushing levies on each other's imports beyond 100%.
The WTO said that, if Trump reintroduced the full rates of his broader tariffs that would reduce goods trade growth by 0.6 percentage points, with another 0.8 point cut due to spillover effects beyond US-linked trade.
Taken together, this would lead to a 1.5% decline, the steepest drop since 2020.
"The unprecedented nature of the recent trade policy shifts means that predictions should be interpreted with more caution than usual," said the WTO, which is also forecasting a modest recovery of 2.5% in 2026.
Earlier on Wednesday, the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) agency said global economic growth could slow to 2.3% as trade tensions and uncertainty drive a recessionary trend.
The Geneva-based WTO said disruption of US-China trade was expected to increase Chinese merchandise exports across all regions outside North America by between 4% and 9%.
Other countries would have opportunities to fill the gap in the United States in sectors such as textiles, clothing and electrical equipment.
Services trade, though not subject to tariffs, would also take a hit, the WTO said, by weakening demand related to goods trade such as transport and logistics. Broader uncertainty could dampen spending on travel and investment-related services.
The WTO said it expected commercial services trade to grow by 4.0% in 2025 and 4.1% in 2026, well below baseline projections of 5.1% and 4.8%.
The expected downturn follows a strong 2024, when the volume of world merchandise trade grew by 2.9% and commercial services trade expanded by 6.8%.