Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla confirmed that Egypt has begun implementing an ambitious program in cooperation with Eni, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, and bp to drill 35 new exploration wells for natural gas in the Mediterranean Sea and the Nile Delta within two years from 2023 until July 2025.

The new wells will be drilled with a total of investments amounting to $1.8 billion. It will include 21 wells during the current fiscal year 2023/24 and 14 wells during the fiscal year 2024/25, El Molla told Emirati news agency WAM on the sidelines of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)+ meetings in Vienna.

During the past five years, the Egyptian oil sector and international companies drilled a large number of exploratory wells, amounting to 576 wells. As a result, 284 new discoveries of oil and gas were made, 217 for oil and 67 for gas. These discoveries added reserves amounting to 1320 million barrels of oil equivalent (mboe), 295 million barrels of crude oil and condensates, and 5750 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas. These discoveries come in light of plans to put them on the production map, El Molla noted.

Oil and natural gas resources constitute about 93% of the primary energy sources in Egypt, and the country’s production of oil and gas meets around 75% of domestic consumption, El Molla stated. He added that Egypt continues to meet the rest of its needs through imports. Natural gas currently represents the most important fuel and the most consumed in the energy mix in Egypt. He highlighted that it is a clean transitional fuel that Egypt has adopted as a major choice in the energy mix for its domestic consumption, being the least intense fossil fuel in terms of carbon emissions.

El Molla also commended OPEC+ for its role in supporting market stability for both consumers and producers.