Sherif Ismail, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, received a report from the Ganope Chairman Abu Bakar Ibrahim on the results of the company’s latest international bidding round, put forward by the company at the end of 2014.
The report stated that the total investments raised by the bid round was in the $100 million range, with bonuses of $3.7 million to drill 16 exploration wells for oil and gas, having received seven offers for 5 blocks.
For his part, the Minister of Petroleum said that the bid round was an overall success, especially in light of the decline in oil prices. The turnout was excellent and reflective of foreign investors’ confidence in the economic climate in Egypt in general and in the oil sector in particular.
The Ganope chairman said that winners included:
1. A consortium consisting of the Emirati Pacific Oil & Gas and Malaysia’s Hibiscus Petroleum. The companies won Block 2 of Ras Al-Ish in the Gulf of Suez – covering a 68 square kilometer area with an obligation to spend a minimum of $68 million, and a signing bonus of $2 million in exchange for drilling five exploratory wells.
2. Egypt’s Trident won Block 6 of Northwest Tair al-Bahr in the Gulf of Suez – covering a 191 square kilometer area with an obligation to spend a minimum of $4.5 million, and a signing bonus of $500,000 for the drilling of six exploratory wells.
3. Kieron Magawish won Block 4, of North Magawish, a 194 square kilometer area in the Gulf of Suez with the obligation to spend a minimum of $23.5 million, and a $1 million signing bonus to drill two exploratory wells.
4. A consortium made up of IPR and Miditerra Energy won two blocks in the Kom Ombo area: Block 7 north of Birka for 11860 square kilometers and Block 8 south of al-Birka for 10,900 square kilometers. The minimum spending obligations for the respective blocks are $1.85 million with a bonus of $100,000 for the drilling of one exploratory well, as well as $2.45 million and a $100,000 bonus to drill one exploratory well.
Source: Petroleum Ministry
