Wintershall Dea and operator bp have been awarded a new offshore exploration block in Egypt. The North West Abu Qir Offshore block (Wintershall Dea, 17.25%, bp, operator, 82.75%) is located north of the Raven field, where Wintershall Dea is a long-standing partner to bp, Wintershall Dea said in a statement.

Dawn Summers, Chief Operating Officer and Board member responsible for the MENA region, said “Wintershall Dea has been an investor in Egypt for almost 50 years, we want to enter new projects, and we are delighted to be partnering with bp to explore at North West Abu Qir.”

Sameh Sabry, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Egypt, said “Exploration at North-West Abu Qir complements our natural-gas focused portfolio in Egypt. We will work closely with bp as an active partner, just as we have done at West Nile Delta.”

Wintershall Dea has been a partner for Egypt for almost fifty years. The company is active in multiple natural-gas projects in Egypt: as a partner to bp for the West Nile Delta project, in the Disouco Joint Venture with EGAS at Disouq and as operator of the East Damanhour exploration project.