Egypt inks oil and gas exploration agreements worth $1.4bn

Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources has signed a series of new petroleum agreements for oil and gas exploration in the Mediterranean and Red Sea with six major international and Egyptian companies.

The deals are with six international and local companies, while three further agreements are pending approval in the near future.

The deals target the drilling of 23 wells in nine regions, with total investment involved in the projects around $1.4bn.

According to Egyptian Minister of Petroleum Tarek El-Molla, in addition to its existing cooperation with companies such as Shell, BP and Total, it was forging new partnerships with Exxon Mobil and Chevron, which are entering Egypt for the first time to invest in oil and gas exploration projects.