Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) plans to launch a global bid for gas explorations in the western Mediterranean region during H1 of 2020, an official source said.
Local media quoted on Monday the source, which asked not to be named, as saying that EGAS is currently working on determining the areas to be offered during the bid and obtaining approvals.
Last year, the Ministry of Petroleum completed the second phase of the seismic survey project for the western Mediterranean region in preparation for launching a global bid for oil and natural gas exploration.
It also launched in 2018 the implementation of the seismic survey project in the Gulf of Suez with Schlumberger.
According to the company's report for the last fiscal year, EGAS seeks to drill 15 exploration wells in the Nile Delta and the Mediterranean during the current fiscal year at an estimated cost of $422 million.
EGAS also established 12 development projects with an initial production of 2.046 billion cubic feet of gas per day, with an average added production of about 1.464 billion cubic feet per day, at an investment cost of $7.108 billion.
Egypt's natural gas production in FY2017-18 rose to 2.51 trillion cubic feet.
Meanwhile, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek el-Molla received Monday Norwegian Ambassador Lena Natasha Lind and reviewed the procedures and programs that led to increasing investments in the petroleum and natural gas sectors.
The two sides discussed boosting cooperation in the petroleum and gas domains.
Molla pointed to the promising exploration areas in the Western Mediterranean and Red Sea, which represent good opportunities for international companies, as well as the maritime areas of the member countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum.
The Norwegian diplomat expressed the Norwegian companies’ desire to increase their investments in the petroleum domain, citing investments by Equinor energy company and other Norwegian specialized service companies.
Lind praised the contribution of the Norwegian company BGS in the two-dimensional seismic research and data processing project carried out for the EGAS.
She invited Molla to attend the World Petroleum Conference and Exhibition to be held in Norway in August 2020.
