An Official at the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) told Al Shorouk Newspaper that Italian Edison is seeking a partner to begin drilling the first deepwater well at its North East Hapy offshore concession.

Edison is searching for a partner as the drilling costs could exceed $100m.

The Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tare El Molla, had signed an agreement between EGAS and Edison in January for exploration and production with investments of more than $86m and a $1.5m signing bonus.

The agreement includes searching for oil and gas in North Hapy and drilling two new wells. Edison performed seismic survey on the concession early 2017.

In related news, Edison had achieved a new significant milestone in Abu Qir Concession offshore Egypt starting gas production from the new platform North Abu Qir PIII (NA/Q-PIII). The first production well, NAQPIII#1, was turned on stream with outstanding performances on early April, increasing the overall gas output of the field by 20%. Two additional wells are expected to be completed within July 2017 boosting significantly the Abu Qir Field production.