As EGAS announced bidding for sixteen blocks in the highly prospective offshore Mediterranean and onshore Nile Delta (MEES, 25 May), oil-focused state oil firm EGPC announced a second round for 11 blocks spread across the Western Desert, Gulf of Suez and Eastern Desert. Cairo will be hoping to drum-up interest in its oil producing regions with oil output slipping to a 35-year low last year (MEES, 25 May).
Six of the blocks are in the Western Desert, with the S. Abu Sennan and the S. Burg El Arab blocks adjacent to two of independent Kuwait Energy’s Egyptian concessions. Abu Sennan produced 3,500 b/d and Burg El Arab 1,700 b/d for 2017. The firm has been shifting away from its Egypt assets towards its Iraq acreage (MEES, 25 May). (CONTINUED - 296 WORDS)
