The Egypt Upstream Gateway (EUG) opened the NW Al Amal Block in the Gulf of Suez for bidding on Monday, July 6, under the Open Blocks Licensing Program (OBLP), with submissions accepted until September 7, noted a statement posted on EUG’s official LinkedIn page.

The OBLP is a bidding technique that allows oil and gas companies to nominate and bid for exploration blocks that are not currently under license, rather than waiting for a scheduled licensing round. The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (MoPMR) introduced the OBLP in 2024 to ensure continuous access to investment opportunities.

Spanning an area of around 440 square kilometers, the NW Al Amal Block has been explored since the 1960s and includes 36 wells and 10 sidetracks (additional wellbores that are drilled from existing wells).

According to EUG, the block is estimated to contain around 90 million barrels of stock tank oil originally in place (MM STOOIP), with an additional upside potential exceeding 300 MM STOOIP.

The block is located near several producing fields, including El Morgan, July, South Gharib, Ramadan, West Morgan, Amal, Shukheir M, Shukheir, and Kheir, offering potential synergies for future development.

EUG is the Country’s first digital platform for the upstream sector, launched by the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum in collaboration with SLB in February 2021. The platform aims to help de-risk exploration prospects and attract new investments to Egypt.