Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Karim Badawi, emphasized that boosting local oil and gas production is a top priority for the ministry at this critical stage. This focus aims to reduce the import bill and support the state’s broader economic objectives.
Badawi underscored the importance of attracting increased investments, which serve as a key driver for developing petroleum resources and accelerating production growth. He stressed the need for integrated efforts and a team-oriented approach to achieve these goals, with a clear focus on prioritizing projects that directly contribute to increasing production.
This came during the Minister’s chairmanship of the General Assembly meeting of the General Petroleum Company (GPC) via video conference to discuss and approve the new investment budget for the fiscal year (FY) 202526.
Badawi highlighted the importance of the bid round that was launched to attract new investments in a number of areas of the General Petroleum Company within the framework of the package of investment opportunities launched by the Ministry, which is expected to contribute to supporting production rates in the fields of the General Petroleum Company.
Meanwhile, GPC’s Chairman Mohamed Abdel Mageed explained during the meeting that GPC is targeted to drill 41 new wells to explore and produce oil and gas in the Eastern and Western Deserts and the Gulf of Suez, and to repair and re-complete 39 wells in the company’s various fields.
Abdel Mageed highlighted the successes achieved by the company during the first half of FY 2024/25 in the field of increasing production, as 17 new production wells were drilled, 40 other wells were repaired and re-completed, and the new GG83/3 exploration wells in the North Amer field in the Gulf of Suez were placed on the production map.
Preparations are underway to drill a third well, in addition to repairing two wells on the GG1 production platform, to raise total production to 3,300 barrels, an increase of approximately 1,700 barrels over the production rate last in July 2024.
This is in addition to resuming production from the FF offshore platform in the Gulf of Suez by targeting an unconventional reservoir and producing from it for the first time, and intensifying drilling operations in the aging Ghareb field. It succeeded in raising its production rates to nearly 3,000 barrels per day (bbl/d), and increasing gas production from the aging SWS field in the Western Desert to 17 million cubic feet per day (mcf/d) and increasing its reserves.
Abdel Mageed stated that a number of bidding areas offered by the company are being evaluated, with a specific timetable to quickly put them on the production map.
The meeting was attended by Kamel Al-Wazir, Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Development and Minister of Transport and Industry.