Egypt to offer three oil & gas exploration bid rounds this year / Inaugural meeting of the East Med seven took place yesterday - ENTERPRISE

Thursday, 7 March 2019

Egypt is planning to offer three oil & gas exploration bid rounds this year, Energy Minister Tarek El Molla told local press. 

EGAS will offer a bid round in the Mediterranean and EGPC will offer two bid rounds in the Western Desert, the Red Sea, and the Eastern Desert.

Inaugural meeting of the East Med seven took place yesterday: Representatives from the seven East Mediterranean countries held the inaugural meeting to form a regional gas market in Cairo on Wednesday, according to an Oil Ministry statement. 

The meeting, which included representatives from Egypt, Israel, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Jordan, and Palestine, looked at the initial steps needed to bring about the market. 

The seven nations had reached an agreement back in January at the East Med Gas Forum to create a regional organization to help establish the market. 

It remains to be clear what the organization and alliance hopes to achieve, but its establishment and base in Cairo is yet another sign of Egypt’s emerging role as a regional gas hub.

SOURCE / SOURCE2