Ganoub El-Wadi Petroleum Holding Company (GANOPE) and the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to utilize geothermal energy, according to a press release Egypt Oil&Gas received.

Electricity and Petroleum Ministers, Mohamed Shaker, and Tarek El Molla, respectively, attended the signing of the MoU, which reflects the government’s keenness on using new and renewable energy sources to ease the pressure off traditional forms of energy such as petroleum and gas.

GANOPE Chairman, Sherif Sousa, said that previously published studies and researches prove that there were distinct opportunities to utilize geothermal energy in the areas of Pharaoh’s Springs (Hammam Pharaun) and Ain Sukhna in the Gulf of Suez and Farafra in the Western Desert.