Egypt to Offer First Petroleum Excavation Bid in Red Sea in 2018

Egypt's Minister of Petroleum Tarek El-Molla has announced that Egypt will offer the first bid on oil and gas excavation in the Red Sea before the end of 2018 after processing seismic reflection data. During a meeting of the Egyptian-Canadian Business Council, El-Molla affirmed that all the gas and petroleum needs of the electricity sector, industry and households have been met in 2018, adding that the country spends more than $1.5 billion per month due to the international rise in petroleum prices.

The minister affirmed that total domestic natural gas production now amounts to 6.5 billion cubic feet per day, achieving self sufficiency, after four Mediterranean fields have entered the production map, namely Zohr, Atoll, Noorus and North Alexandria, with investments of $27 billion.

"The ministry's strategic plan includes diversifying energy supplies, addressing debt arrears, reforming the subsidy system, addressing domestic debt, improving governance of the sector, conducting structural reforms, and encouraging private sector investment," El-Molla added.

Zohr, discovered by Italian energy company Eni in 2015, is the largest natural gas field ever discovered in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Nooros field, located in the Nile Delta region, was discovered in July 2015 and started production in September of the same year.

In March 2018, Eni said the field had reached production of 32 million cubic metres per day (the equivalent of around 215,000 barrels of oil per day), the highest ever recorded by an Eni field in Egypt in the last 50 years.

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