São Paulo – Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources announced on Tuesday (11) that it will launch an international bidding round for the exploration of 14 oil and gas blocks. The areas have been divided into two tenders, with bids due in November and December.
According to the ministry, one of the bidding rounds will offer eight producing blocks operated by the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) in the Mediterranean Sea, the Nile Delta and North Sinai, with bids due by noon Cairo time on December 14.
The other six exploration areas belong to the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation and are located in the Gulf of Suez, Sinai and the Western Desert. Bids for these blocks are due earlier, by noon Cairo time on November 11.
Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Karim Badawi announced the bidding rounds and said the blocks will be offered through the Egypt Upstream Gateway (EUC) under a production-sharing system, in which the state retains ownership of the natural resources extracted by companies and the resulting oil is shared between the government and operators.
Badawi also said the blocks are located near existing fields and infrastructure, including pipelines and processing plants, helping reduce exploration costs in the region.
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Translated by Guilherme Miranda
