Egypt’s People's assembly has approved 13 petroleum agreements, Petroleum Africa reported. The 13 agreements comprise of contracts with the Indian, Emarati, US, UK, and Italian firms to hunt for oil and gas in Egypt. These agreements could produce a minimum investment of $2.5 billion and result in a minimum of 31 wells drilled. Ganoub El Wadi Petroleum Holding Company (GANOPE), Egypt’s state-run company, has entered into five agreements.
Three agreements were signed with Indian companies and contained an agreement for the South Quseir concession on the Red Sea, one for the South Sinai on the Gulf of Suez, and one for South Gulf of Suez. The Indian players will invest at least $128 million and explore a minimum of nine wells.
The fourth agreement, for the Ghazaliyat (block-11) in the Assiut region, is with the Arab Investment Company and the Emarati RAK Petroleum (Ras Al Khaimah). The concession wraps 700 square kilometers of land. About $10.5 million will be invested on exploring at least three wells.
Expansion of the West Esh El Mallaha Development block (Eastern Desert) is the fifth agreement between GANOPE and Tharwa Company (Tharwa).
Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) has entered into an agreement with Apache/Khalda and Tharwa for the Siwa concession in the Western Desert.
Around $15 million will be invested and the pair is required to explore at least four wells on the concession. The pair also entered into an agreement for access to the El Saloum and West Ghazalat concessions in the Western Desert. The pair will invest $7.5 million and drill four wells on each of the blocks.
EGPC, BP Plc (BP), and Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company (IOEC) signed the ninth agreement for the offshore Ras El Barr concession. It calls for the investment of $1.1 billion. BP and IOEC were also the recipients of the tenth award made. The two will drill the Offshore El Temsah block in the Nile Delta.
EGPC, BP will explore the South Belayim offshore concession in the Gulf of Suez with separate agreements and IOEC will drill the offshore South Ghara concession.
Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co. (EGAS) has executed one agreement with IEOC and Tharwa for rights to the Thekah North Sinai concession. The two companies will be required to invest $51 million.