The Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, has signed two agreements that grant Cyprus’ subsidiary Mediterra and U. IPR oil and gas company exploration rights in Upper Egypt, according to Reuters.

Arab Finance wrote that the agreements include the drilling of three exploration wells located in sectors 7 and 8 in Egypt’s southern Al-Baraka field in Aswan. The total investments are worth a minimum of $4.3m and there is an extra one-off fee of $200,000 for earning the exploratory license.

Minister El Molla said that these deals will help increase oil production to meet the local needs and will intensify research activities in the southern area of the country which has promising petroleum prospects.

Al Bawaba News reported that the contracts were signed between Egypt’s state-run Ganoub El-Wadi Petroleum Holding Company’s (GANOPE) Chairman, Sherif Sousa, IPR’s Country Chairman, Mahmoud Dabbous, and Mediterra’s Director, Memet Kont.