Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Karim Badawi announced a new international bid round for exploration and production operations in blocks RS-Block (1), RS-Block (2), RS-Block (3), and RS-Block (4) located in the Red Sea. The announcement was made during the minister’s participation in the Abu Dhabi Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) 2025.
Offered by Ganoub El Wadi Petroleum Holding Company (Ganope), the bid round will be closed on Sunday 3rd of May 2026 at 12:00 PM.
“This bid round is the first to implement modern systems designed to attract international companies to inject new investments into untapped areas and deep waters. It introduces a production-sharing system based on the R-Factor, aligning returns with the level of risk and investment,” Badawi said.
The Minister emphasized that this new bid round aligns with the first pillar of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources’ (MoPMR) strategy, which seeks to attract greater foreign investment in exploration and production, particularly in uncharted geological basins.
“The Red Sea region is one of the most important new petroleum areas, rich with promising opportunities for future discoveries that can boost production capacity,” he noted.
Minister Badawi added that this is a step toward maximizing resource utilization and boosting domestic oil and natural gas production. “MoPMR is working to create an attractive investment environment and adopt the latest contractual frameworks that keep pace with global developments in the oil and gas industry,” Badawi added.
Earlier in October, on the sidelines of the World Energies Summit in London, Badawi unveiled that Egypt was preparing to launch an international bid round for oil and natural gas exploration in four areas of the Red Sea, through the Egypt Upstream Gateway (EUG). This came during his meeting with Andrea Lovatini, Director of Exploration Data and Digital Solutions at SLB.
This is not the first bid round to be launched in the Red Sea. In 2019, Egypt announced a bid round for exploration and production the region’s blocks 1,3 and 4.
