Egypt agrees with five energy firms on exploration in Mediterranean - minister (updated)

Total Energy Services

15/02/2020 11:24

(Adds details, background)
    CAIRO, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Egypt has reached initial
agreements with five major energy firms to explore for oil and
gas in deep waters in off its western coast on the
Mediterranean, the petroleum minister said, the first such deals
in that offshore region.
    The five companies are Royal Dutch Shell  RDSa.L , Chevron
 CVX.N , BP  BP.L , Total  TOTF.PA  and Exxon Mobil  XOM.N ,
said Tarek El Molla told Sky News Arabia TV on Saturday.
    He said the exploration and production agreements spanned
seven concessions and had been signed with major companies
because of the scale of investment needed. Exploratory drilling
in the area would start in early 2021, he said.
    The discovery of the giant Mediterranean field of Zohr off
the eastern coasts of Egypt by Italy's Eni in 2015 sparked
renewed interest and investment in Egypt's energy industry.
    The country is trying to position itself as an energy hub in
the eastern Mediterranean, importing gas from Israel and
exporting to Jordan and potentially to Europe and Asia.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N28Q39V
    Egypt said in January it had signed two deals with Exxon
Mobil for oil and gas exploration in the Mediterranean.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N29X1N0
        

 (Reporting by Ehab Farouk; Writing by Mahmoud Mourad; Editing
by Edmund Blair)
 ((mahmoud.mourad@thomsonreuters.com;))