Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly reaffirmed the government’s commitment to attracting new investments into the oil and gas sector during a tour of the natural gas production facilities in Egypt’s West Delta Deep Marine (WDDM) during a visit to Beheira Governorate.
Madbouly was accompanied by Karim Badawi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, and executives from foreign companies that are operating in the area, including UK Shell, Malaysia’s Petronas, and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC).
The WDDM area is operated by Rashid Petroleum Company (Rashpetco), the joint venture (JV) between the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) alongside Shell and Petronas.
During the visit, Madbouly emphasized the importance of the petroleum sector to Egypt’s economy, noting that the government continues to introduce incentives and facilitative measures aimed at attracting additional investments and encouraging international energy companies to expand exploration and production activities.
“Our goal is to attract more investments into this vital sector and encourage global partners to inject new capital into exploration and development activities,” Madbouly said.
For his part, Badawi described the WDDM area as one of Egypt’s most important natural gas-producing regions in the Mediterranean, highlighting it as a successful model of cooperation between the Egyptian petroleum sector and international partners.
The minister said recent sector reforms and investment incentives, coupled with the state’s program to settle outstanding dues owed to foreign partners, which were fully cleared on June 10, have helped restore investor confidence, accelerate development plans, and support production growth.
He noted that the 10th and 11th phases of the WDDM development project were implemented during 2024 and 2025, adding new production capacity that helped support domestic gas supplies and mitigate natural production decline from mature fields.
Badawi also underscored Egypt’s competitive advantage stemming from its integrated gas production and processing infrastructure, which reduces development costs and enables rapid tie-ins of new discoveries. He added that the WDDM area possesses sufficient infrastructure capacity to accommodate additional gas volumes within short timeframes.
The West Mina gas field, one of the area’s most important offshore discoveries, is scheduled to begin production in the fourth quarter of 2026, targeting output of 160 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) once tie‑in operations to existing facilities are completed.
The field was discovered in October 2023 and is being developed by Shell and KUFPEC through a subsea tie-back to the existing WDDM infrastructure.
After the tour, Madbouly reviewed the international partners’ current activities in the field and future investment plans in the WDDM area.
A photo of PM meeting with Rashpetco and International Partners, following the tour. Photo source: (MoMPR)
Dalia El Gabry, Vice President and Country Chair of Shell Egypt, outlined the company’s activities in Egypt, where it has operated for more than 110 years. She highlighted Shell’s role across the energy value chain, including natural gas production in the WDDM, exploration activities in the Nile Delta and Herodotus Basin, as well as gas liquefaction and exports through the Idku LNG plant.
El Gabry reaffirmed Shell’s commitment to working closely with the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (MoPMR) and its partners to develop these assets and support secure, responsible, and sustainable energy supplies.
Meanwhile, Hany Esmat, CEO and Country Chair of Petronas Egypt, reviewed the company’s partnership with Shell in offshore gas production projects in the West Delta region and the Idku LNG plant, expressing interest in expanding Petronas’ investments in Egypt’s gas sector.
Abdulaziz Al-Mousawi, Country Manager of KUFPEC, highlighted the company’s investment portfolio in Egypt, including assets in the Gulf of Suez and its Mediterranean partnership with Shell. He also expressed pride in participating in the development of the West Mina field, which is expected to start production later this year.
The prime minister also inspected the main control room of Rashpetco’s gas receiving and processing facility, where he was briefed on operations, including the transportation of offshore gas into the national gas grid.
