The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with bp for assessing opportunities to implement a drilling program of five exploratory wells at depths ranging from 300 to 1,500 meters in the Mediterranean Sea.

The agreement aims to accelerate natural gas production from the West Nile Delta by leveraging existing infrastructure. Drilling operations are scheduled to begin next year, with potential new discoveries to be tied to current facilities after evaluation.

Following the signing, Karim Badawi, the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, noted that the agreement with bp reflects the strength of a partnership that has spanned more than six decades, underscoring the company’s recent exploration successes in Egypt’s Mediterranean Sea.

“We look forward to applying bp’s technological expertise to build on our recent exploration and development momentum to bring on new gas resources and accelerated production for the country, as well as deliver value for our business,” said William Lin, bp’s Executive Vice President for Gas and Low Carbon Energy.

Nader Zaki, bp’s Regional President for the Middle East and North Africa, believes the memorandum will help unlock additional gas resources in the West Nile Delta. “We are proud of our longstanding partnership with the Egyptian government. This memorandum represents a strategic step in our investments in Egypt’s energy sector during this decade, enabling us to develop additional gas resources in the West Nile Delta and bring them onstream as quickly as possible to meet the needs of the local market.”

The agreement followed bp’s two recent discoveries: the Fayoum-5 gas well and the King-2 exploration wells, both within the West Nile Delta project.