Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Karim Badawi held meetings with Clay Neff, President of Chevron International Exploration and Production, and Dong Sub Kim, President & CEO of Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC), focusing on investments and capacity building.

These meetings took place on the sidelines of the CERAWeek 2025 Global Energy Week held in Houston. In his meeting with Neff, the two sides reviewed the promising investment opportunities in the Egyptian oil and gas sector and the company’s activities in Egypt, most recently exploration operations in the North Dabaa Offshore Concession in the western Mediterranean.

Badawi asserted on the significance of accelerating the implementation of drilling and exploration programs in Chevron’s concession areas in the Mediterranean and Red Sea, as well as developing the discovery in the Narges Offshore Concession and placing it on the production map as soon as possible.

For his part, Neff expressed his deep appreciation for the efforts of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (MoPMR) in fostering a positive investment climate in developing the East Mediterranean gas fields. This collaboration led to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the MoPMR and Chevron for developing the Cypriot Aphrodite field during the activities of the Egypt Energy Show (EGYPES 2025).

Neff highlighted the company’s commitment to expanding its investments in Egypt and expediting the production of the Narges field.

In a separate meeting, Badawi also held talks with Kim, reviewing cooperation opportunities in the projects of trading and exchanging crude oil and natural gas, storage reservoirs.

The meeting further tackled utilizing surplus capacity in Egyptian oil refineries and storage facilities, within the framework of the development of the infrastructure in Egypt’s oil and gas industry. They also discussed exchanging expertise and advanced technology in the management domain.

Additionally, the meeting addressed cooperation opportunities in the domains of renewable, green energy, and CCS projects, in light of KNOC’s distinct expertise.

For his part, Kim expressed interest in the participation of KNOC in development and capacity-building programs within the Egyptian oil and gas sector. This would be achieved through the provision of advanced training programs for young professionals in the sector, by sending a group of personnel to Korea to benefit from these programs.