The Ministry of Petroleum in Egypt has announced the signing of 12 exploration agreements with major oil companies in the sector. The new agreements cover the main basins of the country, with the companies investing over a billion dollars in their first phase of exploration.

The companies involved are Chevron, Edison, BP, Shell, Nobel, Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC), Mubadala and Total.
The basins to be explored are located in the eastern and western Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the western desert. The agreements are subject to government regulatory approvals.

Tarek El Molla, Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum, said that a signing bonus of $19 million was collected by Cairo, within the course of these agreements. The first exploration phase on the perimeters is expected to result in the drilling of 21 wells.

The Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) and African Petroleum Producers’ Organisation (APPO) Member is a big player in the continent’s oil and gas sector. Although most of its exports are not petroleum products, it has been making remarkable progress this year in exploration for oil and gas in its fields.

An earlier report last week spoke about the country’s discovery of oil on the Gulf of Suez. Further back in the back month, another report spoke about Egypt’s strategic plan for 2020-2035 to implement 11 key projects as part of its updated strategy and national development program for the development of the country’s petrochemical production industry.

The projects have assembled arguably the biggest names in the world’s oil and gas sector, and it shows the brighter days ahead for the North African country’s oil and gas sector soon. Oil may become Egypt’s biggest export in years to come at this pace of massive investment and commitment to the oil and gas sector by the relevant authorities and the government. There are still lots of underdeveloped fields in the country, like every other oil-producing country on the African continent.