Egypt has succeeded in securing $16.7 billion worth of investment commitments from foreign partners over the next five years, signalling a strong recovery in its upstream industry and renewed confidence from International Oil Companies (IOCs), according to Karim Badawi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.
This came during the ninth edition of Al-Ahram’s Energy Conference, where he gave the breakdown of the figure, noting that Italy’s energy giant Eni will invest $8 bn, the UK-based bp will inject $5 bn, and the remaining $3.7 billion will be provided by ARCIUS Energy (a joint venture between bp and ADNOC’s subsidiary XRG).
The minister boasted the fact that the petroleum sector has shifted from a period of decline to a phase of stability, with natural gas production increasing gradually for the first time in four years, and the crude oil output is projected to achieve self-sufficiency within five years.
The petroleum ministry has implemented a series of measures to stimulate upstream activity, including paying nearly $1 billion of arrears to IOCs, introducing new investment incentives, and revising production-sharing agreements to include the R-Factor system.
These reforms have encouraged foreign investors to expand their operations, leading to multiple discoveries across Egypt, the most recent of which are: North El-Basant 1 exploratory well, which contains initial reserves of 15–25 billion cubic feet (bcf) and the Northeast Ramadan Crystal (NER-1X) well, with output estimated at 8 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d) in the Nile Delta region.
The ministry launched a Red Sea international bid round via Egypt Upstream Gateway (EUG), available until Sunday 3rd of May 2026 at 12:00 PM. This is in addition to plans to drill 480 exploration wells over the next five years, alongside expanding seismic surveys covering 100,000 square kilometers onshore the Western Desert in addition to 95,000 square kilometers offshore the Eastern Mediterranean using Ocean Bottom Node (OBN) technology.
During the conference, Badawi highlighted the ministry’s plan to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and boost investment opportunities in green energy projects, including Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), green ammonia, and bioethanol
In December, Qatar committed $200 million to build a SAF production facility in the Ain Sokhna Integrated Zone, the first Qatari industrial investment in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE), which will convert cooking oils into 200,000 tons per year (t/y) of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), biopropane, and bionaphtha.
Just a week earlier, Egypt issued its first SAF production license to the Egyptian Sustainable Aviation Fuel Company (ESAF), a subsidiary of ECHEM, to build a facility in Alexandria. The plant will convert used cooking oil into 120,000 t/y of jet fuel, cutting around 400,000 t/y of CO₂ emissions.
Badawi also pointed to the implementation of 117 renewable energy projects at petroleum work sites and measures to improve energy efficiency by 8%, contributing to a reduction of approximately 1.4 million tons of carbon emissions.
