Egypt’s General Authority for Petroleum (EGPC) announced on Sunday it would hold a tender for oil exploration in the company’s concession areas in the Eastern Desert.
Bids must be submitted by Dec. 28, according to an advertisement EGPC posted in local newspapers.
The exploration areas include Wadi Dara, with a total area of 50 square kilometres, and block G in West Gharib, with an area of 20 square km.
Egypt has been pushing for new oil and gas discoveries aiming to meet the local market’s escalating demand for energy during the last few years.
On the other hand, the Minister of Petroleum Tarek Al Mulla said on Sunday that Egypt intends to import 80 shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in fiscal year 2017/2018, rather 118 shipments in FY 2016/2017,
Al-Mulla noted that his ministry was planning to import 154 shipments of LNG in FY 2016/2017, however the ministry actually imported 118 shipments due to the increase in domestic gas production.
Egypt expects a daily increase of 1 billion cubic feet in its natural gas production to reach 6.2 billion cubic feet per day by the end of the current fiscal year 2017/2018.
Italy’s Eni has discovered the largest gas field “Zohr” in the Egyptian territorial water in the Mediterranean in 2015, with estimated reserves of about 850 billion cubic feet.
The Italian company completed the development procedures in February and it intends to start production by the end of this year. Egypt expects to achieve self-sufficiency of natural gas by the end of 2018
