Egypt has awarded four new licenses to explore for oil and gas off its Mediterranean coast, weeks after Eni's giant Zohr gas find piqued fresh international interest in the area.
Egypt's state gas company EGAS said in a statement it had awarded one license to Britain's BP and one to Italy's Edison. A consortium involving BP and Eni's Egyptian subsidiary had also picked up a block as had another consortium involving Eni, BP and France's Total.
EGAS head Khaled Abdel Badie told Reuters after the announcement that Egypt was preparing to launch a new bidding round for offshore gas exploration in the Mediterranean in the first half of 2016.
Eni announced in late August it had discovered the largest known gas field in the Mediterranean off the Egyptian coast.
The Italian major predicts the Zohr field could hold 30 trillion cubic feet of gas, covering an area of about 100 sq km (39 sq miles). It could be a game-changer for Egypt, whose $3.5 billion debts to foreign energy companies had made it increasingly difficult to attract major investments.
Egypt, which once exported gas, has become a net energy importer over the last few years as production has failed to keep up with domestic demand.
Not only has Egypt diverted to the domestic market gas originally earmarked for export, but it has failed to keep up payments to the foreign energy companies producing it.
The crisis had discouraged international energy companies from making major investments in Egypt's oil and gas sector at a time when it needed to make new discoveries and boost output.
The Zohr find, however, is likely to encourage oil majors to look more carefully at the eastern Mediterranean region, which has yielded some significant discoveries in recent years.
The EGAS statement said the new concessions would see the companies making total investments of at least $306 million, conducting seismic studies and sinking eight discovery wells.
Recommended Reading
Report: Freeport LNG Hits Sixth Day of Dwindling Gas Consumption
2024-04-17 - With Freeport LNG operating at a fraction of its full capacity, natural gas futures have fallen following a short rally the week before.
Permian NatGas Hits 15-month Low as Negative Prices Linger
2024-04-16 - Prices at the Waha Hub in West Texas closed at negative $2.99/MMBtu on April 15, its lowest since December 2022.
BP Starts Oil Production at New Offshore Platform in Azerbaijan
2024-04-16 - Azeri Central East offshore platform is the seventh oil platform installed in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli field in the Caspian Sea.
US Could Release More SPR Oil to Keep Gas Prices Low, Senior White House Adviser Says
2024-04-16 - White House senior adviser John Podesta stopped short of saying there would be a release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve any time soon at an industry conference on April 16.
Core Scientific to Expand its Texas Bitcoin Mining Center
2024-04-16 - Core Scientific said its Denton, Texas, data center currently operates 125 megawatts of bitcoin mining with total contracted power of approximately 300 MW.