Egypt is aggressively expanding its natural gas exploration activities, earmarking a robust $1.9 billion for drilling 45 new exploratory wells in the Mediterranean and Nile Delta regions by mid-2025, the Cabinet confirmed in a statement on Tuesday.
Ten of these wells were drilled from July 2022 through June 2023, leading to the significant discovery in the Nargis Offshore Area Concession. This new find has already boosted Egypt’s reserves by 2.5 trillion cubic feet, revealed Tarek El-Molla, the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.
El-Molla further detailed that a separate $1.5 billion will be allocated for drilling 35 more exploratory wells over the course of the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 fiscal years. In addition, Egypt is looking to bolster existing capacities, with plans to drill 25 more wells in the Zohr Field. The goal is to enhance the field’s existing capacity, currently at 2.2 billion cubic meters per day.
Notably, British Petroleum (BP) has also signaled strong confidence in Egypt’s energy sector, announcing a $3.5 billion investment for the exploration and development of natural gas resources over the next three years.
Egypt is methodically positioning itself as an energy superpower. Fresh off a new gas field discovery in the Nargis area this January, the country projects its LNG exports to reach eight million tons in 2023, up from 7.5 million tons last year — a 14 percent increase year-on-year.