Ganoub El Wadi Petroleum Holding Company (Ganope), in cooperation with the Egyptian Petroleum Exploration Society (EPEX), organized a workshop to promote the 2025 Red Sea International Bid Round, which is scheduled to close on May 3rd, 2026. This comes within the framework of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (MoPMR )’s strategy to create new investment horizons and expand exploration areas.
The workshop was inaugurated by Ahmed Abd El Fattah, EPEX’s Chairman. Meanwhile, Mohamed Radwan, Ganope Vice Chairman for Agreements and Exploration and Egypt Upstream Gateway (EUG) Project Manager at the Ministry of Petroleum, emphasized the workshop’s importance in highlighting the petroleum potential of the Red Sea to attract new investments.
A comprehensive re-evaluation of the Red Sea Basin was conducted using all available data, including both legacy and new 2D seismic data covering 10,400 line kilometers, collected through the joint project between Ganope and SLB. Additionally, certain areas were covered by ‘Broadband’ 3D seismic data exceeding 12,000 square kilometers (km²). Based on this data, geological models were developed to achieve a more precise understanding of the petroleum system elements and to leverage data from previously drilled wells.
The event was attended by the heads of SLB, Dana Petroleum, TGS, and PetroService companies. Also in attendance were several exploration experts and representatives from over 20 international and local companies specializing in the field of research and exploration.
In November 2025, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Karim Badawi announced a new international bid round for exploration and production activities in the Red Sea blocks RS‑Block (1), RS‑Block (2), RS‑Block (3), and RS‑Block (4).
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 of the region’s blocks 1,3 and 4.
