The General Petroleum Company (GPC) has started operating the first of three modern 1,000-horsepower drilling rigs, provided by the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), to intensify drilling operations at the Gharib producing oilfields in the Eastern Desert, as part of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources' strategy to increase domestic production. GPC is currently implementing an intensive drilling program, supported and supervised by EGPC, aimed at drilling 75 wells within 12 months. This is expected to add about 7,500 barrels per day (bbl/d) and increase the total production of Ras Gharib fields to 9,000 bbl/d, driven by the efforts of GPC’s engineers and technicians.