Egypt Signs Oil, Gas Exploration Contracts in Red Sea

One of the projects in Egypt. AAWSAT AR
One of the projects in Egypt. AAWSAT AR
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Egypt Signs Oil, Gas Exploration Contracts in Red Sea

One of the projects in Egypt. AAWSAT AR
One of the projects in Egypt. AAWSAT AR

Egypt has signed oil and gas exploration contracts with the global auction winning companies at the Red Sea region.

Asharq Al-Awsat received a copy from a press release published by the Ministry of Petroleum, Mining, and Mineral Resources, in which the Ministry stated that the positive outcome of the auction gives a push forward and attracts more global investments in the petroleum sector especially in promising zones.

Exploration, development and output programs resume via 13 agreements in the study phase, and five agreements in the development phase, in addition to an agreement of study and development. The Ministry also supervises 10 petroleum agreements with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation in the production phase, the press release added.

There are also two agreements in the phase of procedures, according to the press release.

Notably, the Red Sea project revenues recorded the highest in the past months since the project was launched. Furthermore, contact was made with global companies who have shown interest in explorations in the Red Sea.

Egypt's Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla affirmed that the exploration activities continue as planned despite the challenges resulting from the coronavirus outbreak. Petroleum companies in the region are proceeding their operations while abiding by the precautionary measures in their exploration and production activities.

President of Ganoub El-Wadi Petroleum Holding (Ganope) Mohamed Abdul Azim sent a report to Molla regarding the company’s activities in the south of Egypt.

Ganope succeeded in ramping up output average in which the overall production exceeded 7 million bpd during the first quarter of the year, this means a total of 23,00 bpd of crude oil, the report revealed.

Throughout the same duration, a total of 800 million cubic meters of natural gas was produced.



Egypt, Cyprus Sign Gas Export Deals, Boosting Eastern Mediterranean Energy Cooperation

The logo of Italian energy company Eni is seen at a gas station in Rome, Italy August 16, 2018. (Reuters)
The logo of Italian energy company Eni is seen at a gas station in Rome, Italy August 16, 2018. (Reuters)
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Egypt, Cyprus Sign Gas Export Deals, Boosting Eastern Mediterranean Energy Cooperation

The logo of Italian energy company Eni is seen at a gas station in Rome, Italy August 16, 2018. (Reuters)
The logo of Italian energy company Eni is seen at a gas station in Rome, Italy August 16, 2018. (Reuters)

Egypt and Cyprus signed agreements on Monday enabling the export of gas from Cyprus's offshore fields to Egypt for liquefaction and re-export to Europe, as both countries seek to bolster the Eastern Mediterranean's role as an energy hub.

The deals signed at the 2025 Egypt Energy Show formalize a long-anticipated plan to link Cypriot reserves to Egypt’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, a move that leverages Egypt’s existing infrastructure to process and ship natural gas to European markets.

Monday's agreements involve gas extracted from one Cypriot site, Cronos Block 6 - now under license to a consortium of Italy's Eni and France's Total - to be processed at Egypt's Zohr facilities before being liquefied at Damietta and exported to Europe.

A second memorandum of understanding outlines a framework of processing gas from Cyprus' offshore Aphrodite field, under license to a Chevron-led consortium, which will also be sent to Egypt for processing.

The east Mediterranean has yielded some major gas discoveries in recent years, while a disruption in energy supplies from Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has sharpened Europe's attention on securing supplies elsewhere.

"The essence of these agreements is not limited to promoting the exploitation of deposits, but broadens the prospects for energy cooperation with Egypt, while contributing to regional stability and strengthening our country's geopolitical position in the Eastern Mediterranean," a statement from Cyprus's Presidency said.

Cypriot officials have previously said they expect gas from Block 6 Cronos to possibly come online in 2026 or 2027. Cronos gas in place is estimated at more than 3 trillion cubic feet (tcf).

Aphrodite holds an estimated 3.5 tcf of gas. Israel's NewMed, a member of the consortium, expects gas to come online in 2031, it said in a stock exchange filing on Sunday.

In a Monday filing update, it said the "non-binding" MoU envisaged that Egypt's national gas company, EGAS, would be the sole buyer of the gas produced from Aphrodite, while the partners would be granted an option to purchase specific quantities of the gas sold to EGAS as LNG.

The signing of the Aphrodite deal follows a recent breakthrough between Cyprus and the Chevron-led consortium after months of disagreement over a development plan.

The agreement provides a boost for Egypt, which has struggled with declining domestic gas production and last year returned to being a net importer of natural gas.

Egypt recently signed $3 billion worth of LNG supply deals with Shell and TotalEnergies to cover domestic demand for 2025.

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly has emphasized the country's need to ramp up production at its own Zohr gas field, where operator Eni has resumed drilling after output dropped to 1.9 billion cubic feet per day in early 2024.