U.S. Oil Firm Apache Plans To Invest $1.4 Billion In Egypt - OILPRICE.COM

Aug 21, 2023, 8:30 AM CDT

Charles Kennedy

Apache Corporation plans to invest next year $1.4 billion in Egypt’s energy industry, where the U.S. firm is one of the biggest investors and the largest oil producer in the North African country.

The investment plans were unveiled during a meeting on Sunday of Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly with Apache chief executive John Christmann, the government of Egypt said in a statement carried by local and Arab media.

Egypt expressed hopes that Apache would expand its oil and gas exploration activities and investments in the country despite the global economic slowdown.

Apache, for its part, committed to deepening its partnership with Egypt and discussed raising its oil production in the country, the cabinet said.

Thanks to upgrades, Apache has recently managed to increase its oil production by 10% to more than 150,000 barrels per day (bpd), Christmann told Egyptian officials, according to the statement from the government.

Eni Makes Three Discoveries in Egypt’s Western Desert - ASHARQ AL-AWSAT

Wednesday, 27 October, 2021 - 08:45

Cairo - Sabri Nageh

Egypt’s petroleum ministry said on Tuesday that Italian energy group Eni made three oil and gas discoveries in the western desert.

The discoveries include oil, gas and condensate discoveries in the Meleiha concession, and an oil discovery in the South Mleiha concession area.

According to the Ministry of Petroleum, the finds in the Meleiha Development Concession were found via the Yasmin W-1X and MWD-21 wells, which were drilled in the Aman region near the West Meleiha deep field, respectively.

Egypt starts construction of gas pipeline in Western Desert - REUTERS

CAIRO, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Egypt started construction of a gas pipeline in the Western Desert with an expected capacity of 15 million cubic feet of gas per day, the petroleum ministry said on Facebook on Saturday, citing the head of the General Petroleum Corporation.

The company's current production is about 74,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, he said.

Reporting by Nayera Abdallah; writing by Yomna Ehab; editing by Jason Neely

Carlyle, Cairn Energy-backed group among bidders for Shell’s Egypt assets-sources - REUTERS

JULY 15, 2020 / 4:25 PM

Hadeel Al Sayegh, Ron Bousso

DUBAI/LONDON, July 15 (Reuters) - Buyout firm Carlyle and a consortium backed by Cairn Energy are among the bidders for Royal Dutch Shell’s onshore Egyptian oil and gas assets, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Bids for the assets are now expected to be sharply lower than initial estimates of up to $1 billion due to a weaker outlook for global oil and gas prices, said the sources, declining to be named as the matter is not public.

Shell launched a process at the end of November to sell its onshore upstream assets in the Western Desert as it focuses on expanding its Egyptian offshore gas exploration.

SDX Energy’s Sobhi well set to produce 10-12 mcf / d of natural gas - ENTERPRISE

Thursday, 30 April 2020

SDX Energy is expected to produce 10-12 mcf / d of natural gas from its Sobhi well, the company said in a statement (see below). 

The discovery has grown the South Disouq concession’s production capabilities by 50%, putting SDX on track to extract up to 50 mcf / d by 2023. Earlier this month SDX discovered 24 bcf of natural gas at the Sobhi well, marking a “low-cost, highly-cash generative" expansion to the field.

The full statement follows:

SDX ENERGY PLC ("SDX" or the "Company")

WEPCO’s Production Reaches 3,500 bbl/d - EGYPT OIL & GAS

Tuesday, 14th April 2020

Western Desert Operating Petroleum Company’s (WEPCO) production has reached 3,500 barrels per day (bbl/d) after streamlining well Badr 4-6, according to a statement.

The new development well (Badr 4-6) has added about 500 bbl/d to the state-owned company’s production. Production has increased in the past five months by 1,500 bbl/d, bringing the total production from 2,000 bbl/d to 3,500 bbl/d.

It should be noted that WEPCO is fully operational with 100% of Egyptian youth cadres without foreign partners.

WEPCO adheres to the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla’s strategy to increase crude oil production by developing a rapid development plan for new discoveries and benefiting from the well’s existing infrastructure.

Egypt's Tharwa Petroleum seeks to acquire 6 concession areas in 2020 - ZAWYA / MUBASHER

31 MARCH, 2020

Tharwa drilled eight exploratory and development wells in 2019

Cairo – Tharwa Petroleum Company is looking to obtain six concession areas in 2020 and enter into partnerships with major companies, including Total, ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, and Shell, the company’s chairman Amr El-Leithy said.

The company also plans to drill seven exploratory and development wells this year, El-Leithy added in a statement released by the Ministry of Petroleum on Tuesday.

In 2019, Tharwa drilled eight exploratory and development wells, leading to higher output, he pointed out.

The average output at the company’s areas reached about 6,800 barrels of crude oil per day.

Energean on track for first Israeli gas, FPSO sailaway 'in coming weeks' - PLATTS

19 Mar 2020 | 10:54 UTC London

Author: Stuart Elliott
Editor: Alisdair Bowles 

London — UK-based Energean Oil & Gas said Thursday it is on track for first gas from its Israeli offshore fields in the first half of 2021, announcing that the hull of the firm's dedicated production vessel would sail away from its Chinese shipyard "in the coming weeks."

There had been concern that work on the 8 Bcm/year capacity FPSO Energean Power could be delayed due to travel restrictions imposed in China after the start of the coronavirus outbreak.

"In the coming weeks, you will see our FPSO hull sail away from China to Singapore, a key milestone in the delivery of first gas from Karish, which is on track for H1 2021," CEO Mathios Rigas said following the release of the company's 2019 earnings.

Energean said final work on the vessel would take place in Singapore and the vessel sailed to Israel around year-end for installation.

Egypt- Shell close to finalising sale of its oil assets in Western Desert - MENAFN / DAILY NEWS EGYPT

11/27/2019 6:14:45 AM 

(MENAFN - Daily News Egypt) Dutch Shell company is close to finalising the sale of its existing oil assets and natural gas concession areas in the Western Desert, which represent about 80% of its assets in Egypt.

A source in the petroleum sector told Daily News Egypt that after completing the deal, the company will only have Rashid and Burullus fields whose production is estimated at 290m cubic feet of gas per day (scf/day).

He added that the company has five research and exploration areas after winning the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company's (EGAS) tender. This will not be included in the sale as there is no development and production agreement.

He explained that Shell Egypt was granted oil exploration rights in three areas in the concessions of West Fayoum, Southeast Horus, and South Abu Sinan with investments of $24.7m, $24.5m, and $7.8m, respectively. The company also plans to obtain 14 exploratory wells in the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation's (EGPC) tender.

Ganope Discovers Three Oil Wells in FY 2019/20 - EGYPT OIL & GAS

Thursday, 19th September 2019

Ganoub El Wadi Petroleum Holding Company (Ganope) achieved three new oil discoveries at its oil fields, two of which were brought online at the oil fields of Eish AL Mallaha and Petro Mallaha during Fiscal Year (FY) 2019/20, a press release by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources pointed out.

The three wells are being evaluated with investments reaching $20 million. The PGC had completed drilling the first well at the end of August. Still under evaluation, the third one, located at the Suez Gulf area and operated by Petrogulf Corporation (PGC) is the biggest of all.

Such statements came during a meeting between the Ganope Head Mohamed Abdel Azzim and Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, in the attendance of Aswan governor, Ahmad Ibrahim.

El Molla confirmed during the meeting that the coming period will witness an intensive activity in the research, Exploration and Production (E&P) in the Red Sea after International Oil Companies (IOCs) offers had been submitted and evaluated. This will be the first global bid for research and exploration for oil and gas in this region, which opens new horizons to attract more investments and achieve new discoveries.

Dana Gas could sell off its entire Egypt portfolio - ENTERPRISE

Thursday, 12 September 2019

The UAE’s Dana Gas has received offers from companies interested in buying its USD 500 mn Egypt portfolio, the company’s head of investor relations Mohammed Mubaideen told Mubasher. The company could potentially sell all of its assets in Egypt, depending on the offers it receives, Mubaideen said, adding that the deadline to receive offers is mid-November. The energy company currently produces 34k boe/d. Mubaideen said the Egyptian government has repaid the company USD 81 mn during the first half of the year and brought its arrears down to USD 117 mn. He reiterated that the reason behind the company’s exit is to focus on potentially more lucrative operations in Iraq.

Background: The Emirati company said in July it had hired financial advisors to study the possibility of selling down its Egypt asset portfolio. Unnamed sources told Reuters that the company hired investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH) to advise it on the sale. The company had previously said it would abandon its Merak-1 well in the North Arish concession after failing to find commercial hydrocarbons, but that it plans to invest in drilling in the El Matareya concession in the Nile Delta.

Qarun drills 10 exploratory wells in Western Desert - ENTERPRISE

Tuesday, 3 September 2019

Qarun Petroleum, a joint venture between Apache and the Egyptian General Petroleum Company, has drilled 10 exploratory wells in the Western Desert, producing a combined 5k bbl/d, the Oil Ministry said in a statement yesterday. 

This will account for 16% of the company’s total production. 

The company is now considering investing USD 237 mn during FY2019-2020 in further development projects.

Eni: Zohr gas production reaches 2.7 bcfd - ENI

21/08/2019 15:15

San Donato Milanese (Milan), 21 August 2019 - Eni announces that the production from Zohr field has now reached more than 2.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd), about 5 months ahead of the Plan of Development (PoD).

This remarkable result has been achieved following the completion of all eight onshore treatment production units – the last one commissioned in April 2019 – and all Sulphur production units in August, the production start-up of two wells in the southern culmination of the field (in addition to the ten wells already drilled in the northern culmination) as well as the start-up on August 18th 2019 of the second 216 km long 30” pipeline connecting the offshore subsea production facilities to the onshore treatment plant.

The new pipeline, in conjunction with the completion and optimization of the plant treatment capacity, paves the way to increase, by the year end, the field potential production rate up to 3.2 bcfd against the POD’s plateau rate of 2.7 bcfd.

BP eyes natgas output of 500 mcf/d from Baltim South West by mid-2020 - ENTERPRISE

Sunday, 4 August 2019

BP aims to increase natural gas production to 500 mcf/d by the middle of 2020 when it completes the development of its Baltim South West field, a source from EGAS told the press. 

Work is still ongoing to develop the field and link it to the national gas grid. Eni estimated the field to hold 1 tcf of natural gas after it was discovered in 2016. 

Six wells in the development lease were originally slated to be linked to production in 2H2017. Little has been heard of the field since then. 

Eni (through its Italian Egyptian Oil Company subsidiary) and BP both hold 50% stakes in the field.

Energean growing Mediterranean operations with Edison E&P acquisition - OFFSHORE MAGAZINE

Edison E&P portfolio overview

Jul 8th, 2019

LONDON – Energean has conditionally agreed to acquire Edison Exploration & Production (Edison E&P) from Italy’s Edison for $750 million.

An additional $100 million could be payable following first gas from the Cassiopea gas development offshore Sicily, which is expected to come onstream in 2022. Eni discovered the field in 2008, reportedly in a water depth of 560 m (1,837 ft) and 22 km (13.7 mi) from the coast of Agrigentos.

Edison E&P has producing assets in Egypt, Italy, Algeria, the UK North Sea and Croatia; development assets in Egypt, Italy and Norway; and exploration opportunities across the portfolio.

The company has 2P reserves of 292 MMboe and 2018 net production of 69,000 boe/d.

Energean’s goal is to become the leading independent, gas-focused E&P company in the Mediterranean region, and the Edison portfolio should complement its own interests, the company said.

The enlarged group will have total 2P reserves of 639 MMboe and will be one of the largest independent E&P companies listed on the London and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchanges.

BP to Redirect Focus From Oil Assets in Egypt to Gas Reserves - YAHOO FINANCE / ZACKS EQUITY RESEARCH

June 5, 2019

BP plc BP recently announced its decision to divest Gulf of Suez oil concessions in Egypt to an upstream energy firm Dragon Oil. The value of the transaction has not been disclosed yet.

With the divestment, the British energy giant is planning to focus on gas reserves located off the coast of Egypt. The company has already produced first gas from the West Nile Delta development’s second stage. The project entails the production of natural gas from the Giza and Fayoum fields and the integrated energy firm expects peak production of 700 million cubic feet of gas per day.

BP commenced the first stage of the West Nile Delta project in 2017 and is expecting to start gas production from the final stage by the second half of 2019. Notably, in the first stage, BP developed the Taurus and Libra fields, while the final stage involves the development of the Raven field.

Overall, the West Nile Delta is a major upstream project and the company is expecting the full development — comprising the first, second and final stages — to produce roughly 20% of the current natural gas production volumes in Egypt. BP added that the national gas grid will utilize the entire gas being produced from the West Nile Delta.

Eni announces a new gas discovery in the Nour prospect, Offshore Egypt - ENI

14/03/2019 11:15

Eni announces a new gas discovery under evaluation in the Nour exploration prospect located in Eastern Egyptian Mediterranean. Feasibility studies in order to accelerate the exploitation of these new resources leveraging the synergies with existing facilities will start after finalizing the discovery evaluation

San Donato Milanese (Milan), 14 March 2019 – Eni announces a new gas discovery under evaluation in the Nour exploration prospect located in the Nour North Sinai Concession, in the Eastern Egyptian Mediterranean, about 50 km North of the Sinai peninsula.

The Nour-1 New Field Wildcat (NFW), which has led to the discovery, was drilled by the Scarabeo-9 semi-sub in a water depth of 295 meters and reached a total depth of 5,914 meters.

Nour-1 well found 33 meters of gross sandstone pay with good petrophysical properties and an estimated gas column of 90 meters in the Tineh formation of Oligocene age. The well has not been tested, however an intense and accurate data acquisition has been carried out.

Dana Gas receives additional $44m payment from Egypt - ARABIAN BUSINESS

Mon 31 Dec 2018 08:28 AM

Total payments from Egypt $88m in Q4 and $199m year to date

Dana Gas, UAE-based natural gas company, received an additional overdue payment of $44.3 million (AED 162.4m) from its operations in Egypt this week.

This payment is made up of an additional $35 million industry payment from the government and $9.3 million from the sale of 157,350 barrels of El Wastani condensate.

Dana Gas said it has now received two payments worth $55 million (AED 202m) in December from the Egyptian government towards overdue receivables.

The shipment of El Wastani condensate is the fifth shipment of condensate sales in 2018, resulting in total collections of $54million from condensate shipments from Egypt in 2018.

Total receipts from Egypt has reached $199 million (AED 729m) year to date compared to $164 million (AED 600m) in 2017, an increase of 21% year-on-year.

While the level of Dana Gas' receivables in Egypt are now at its lowest since 2011, it said it's hoping for further improvement in payments that will reduce the level to zero as agreed.

Dana Gas now producing 70,000 barrels of oil per day in Kurdistan - KURDISTAN 24

A gas processing plant run by Dana Gas in the Kurdistan Region

December 15, 2018

John J. Catherine

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Middle East's largest regional private sector natural gas company has announced that, as a result of a previous ramp-up of production in the Kurdistan Region, it reached 70,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) in late November and has either sustained or exceeded that amount since then.

"Production in excess of 70,000 barrels oil equivalent per day is a great achievement for Dana Gas," said Chief Executive Officer Patrick Allman-Ward in a statement released on Thursday.

"The increase in production will help offset the lower realised hydrocarbon prices that have impacted the oil industry in the last quarter and support growth in our revenue and net profit figures for the full year 2018 and beyond."

Dana Gas is an independent gas company headquartered in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates that has been active in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq since 2007 when it entered into agreements with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to develop its substantial gas resources.

Egypt pays Dana Gas USD 111 mn in arrears in 9M2018 - ENTERPRISE

Thursday, 15 November 2018

Egypt paid Dana Gas USD 111 mn in arrears owed in its Financial Results For 9M & Q3 2018, the company said in its earnings release on Wednesday. 

The story comes as Egypt has been stepping up payments to international oil companies (IOCs), with arrears to oil producers have fallen to their lowest levels yet, coming in at USD 1.2 bn at the end of FY2017-18. 

The company noted that its production output in Egypt fell to 34,500 boepd in 9M2018, from 39,600 boepd in 9M2017.

The Company's 9M 2018 revenue increased 6% to $351 million (AED1,287 mm) from $330 million (AED1,210 mm) over the same period last year. Correspondingly, Q3 2018 revenue increased 6% to $115 million (AED422 mm) from $108 million (AED396 mm). The increase in revenue, driven by higher realised hydrocarbon prices, helped offset production decreases in Egypt and the UAE.