President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi directed the continued development of newly discovered wells and integrating them into the production map, while intensifying exploration and drilling activities, to enhance Egypt’s position as a regional energy hub, according to Mohamed El-Shennawy, Presidential Spokesman.

This came during a meeting with Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbouly and Karim Badawi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.  The meeting addressed the latest developments in the mining sector, along with mechanisms to attract and stimulate foreign investment in this vital field, as well as the outcomes of Badawi’s participation in the International Mining and Resources Conference recently held in Australia.

Badawi briefed the president on the status of new discoveries, agreements, and the execution progress of ongoing projects, in addition to the volume of crude oil and natural gas produced during the period from July 2024 to August 2025. He also addressed means to enhance domestic production of oil and gas resources, as well as the infrastructure developments implemented to ensure the availability of the required quantities of gas to meet local market needs.

The Minister touched upon efforts to attract more international companies to invest in the oil and gas sector, highlighting the positive developments witnessed in their activities in Egypt during the current period.

In this context, El-Sisi emphasized the importance of providing more incentives and facilitations to investors, thereby boosting investments in the petroleum sector and increasing production to meet the growing consumption and development needs.

The meeting also discussed the status of settling dues owed to foreign companies operating in Egypt, with the President stressing the necessity of paying these dues in full and honoring all obligations toward foreign explorers, as this strengthens the state’s credibility and reinforces confidence in the investment climate.

The meeting came two days following Badawi’s visit to Nicosia to discuss developments in plans to link the Cypriot Cronos Gas Field to Egypt’s liquefication infrastructure to export it to Europe, with a possibility of directing some of it to cover the gap between Egypt’s gas supply and demand.

Demand for natural gas from different sectors increased by  14% in 2025. Natural gas production fell by 25% during the last two years, while crude oil production decreased by 10%, Badawi said in a press conference in May.

To bridge the demand-supply gap, the ministry expanded its operations between July 2024 and May 2025, drilling a total of 75 wells. Of these, 69 were assessed, leading to 40 new oil and gas discoveries. According to Badawi, these discoveries hold estimated recoverable reserves of 42 million barrels (mmbbl) of oil and condensates, along with 1.3 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas.