Madbouly: Directives from the President to establish a mechanism to develop exploration and development activities to help meet local needs and reduce imports.

Today, Prime Minister Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, accompanied by Eng. Karim Badawi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, visited the Egyptian offshore drilling rig “Al-Qaher-II,” following its success in drilling the exploratory well “West Dennis 1X” in the Tamsah concession area off the coast of Port Said in the Mediterranean. The operation resulted in a promising natural gas discovery, with estimated reserves of 2 trillion cubic feet of gas, in addition to about 130 million barrels of condensates.

The visit was attended by senior petroleum sector officials, as well as executives from the Italian company Eni, the main investor in the concession area, in partnership with the British company BP. The delegation included Mr. Diego Portoghesi, President for North Africa and the Levant at Eni, and Mr. Francesco Gasparri, the company’s General Manager in Egypt.

The Prime Minister emphasized that Egypt is working to provide and localize modern technologies that contribute to increasing oil and gas productivity, following successful global and regional models, in cooperation with major service companies, drilling and technology solution providers, and production partners. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has directed to establish a mechanism to develop exploration, and development activities, helping to meet domestic demand and reduce imports—an effort the government is actively pursuing through the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources in cooperation with relevant entities and companies.

Dr. Madbouly added that the state is also committed to fully settling dues owed to foreign companies operating in Egypt, while intensifying efforts to attract more investments into the energy sector. This will help achieve the petroleum sector’s targets and maximize its role in development, alongside preparing integrated infrastructure to receive liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports and operate regasification vessels, in parallel with supporting increased local production and expanding exploration and production activities.

For his part, Eng. Karim Badawi highlighted that the new “Dennis” discovery is one of the key outcomes of the ministry’s program to settle partners’ dues and implement new incentives to accelerate investment in the oil and gas sector. He also pointed out that all dues will be fully settled by the end of next June, in line with the President’s directives, which will boost partners’ confidence and encourage new investments in exploration and production.

The Minister of Petroleum explained that the discovery also resulted from an incentive agreement reached last year with partners in the Tamsah concession area, which helped accelerate drilling operations. He described the discovery as one of the most significant discoveries in recent years, supporting efforts to increase domestic production and reduce the import bill.

He added that the ministry continues, in cooperation with its partners, to implement an intensive program to increase production rates from existing fields using the latest technologies, while fast-tracking the development of new discoveries and bringing them into production, as well as drilling new exploratory wells targeting promising oil and gas formations.

At the same time, the Minister added that fruitful cooperation with global investment partners has been reflected in announced ambitious investment plans, including about $8 billion from Eni, $5 billion from BP, and $2 billion from the UAE-based Arcius, in addition to Shell expanding its investments in gas exploration and production in the Mediterranean, and Apache increasing its activities in the Western Desert, with total investments exceeding $4 billion.

During the tour, the Prime Minister visited the rig and its main control room and listened to a briefing on its technical capabilities and its role within Egypt’s offshore drilling fleet. The rig is operated by Modern Drilling Company (MDC) using the latest technologies. He also reviewed a presentation on the various stages of the drilling and exploration process.

The Prime Minister also listened to a briefing from Eng. Tharwat El-Gendy, Chairman of Belayim Petroleum Company (Petrobel), on the updates in the Tamsah concession area. Drilling operations were carried out at a water depth of around 98 meters, using directional drilling technology to reach depths exceeding 4,000 meters, enabling access to gas-bearing formations.

During the visit, Dr. Madbouly met with workers from Petrobel and MDC, praising their efforts in operating in a sensitive offshore environment according to the highest safety standards, and stressing the importance of their role in supporting increased production and achieving new discoveries to meet the country’s needs.