The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) will launch a bid round within few days for nine areas, including six areas offshore the East Mediterranean Sea and three areas onshore the Nile Delta, an oil and gas sector official exclusively told Egypt Oil & Gas.

The bid round is expected to receive a lot of interest from international oil companies (IOCs) and foreign partners as the East Mediterranean region is promising, especially after the discovery of Zohr gas field, which make a leap in Egypt’s natural gas production with its 30 trillion cubic feet reserves.

Additionally, Head of EGAS, Ossama El Bakly, recently announced during the company’s general assembly that a bid round will take place in the second half of FY 2017/2018 for exploration offshore the East Mediterranean and onshore Nile Delta, Egypt Oil & Gas reported.

EGAS will further perform seismic survey in the West Mediterranean and will execute an international marketing campaign to prepare for launching an international bid round for the West Mediterranean, El Bakly announced.