Twelve months on from first announcing the imminent launch of a bid round for eight Western Mediterranean offshore blocks (MEES, 25 January 2019), MEES learns that Cairo has decided it will award acreage on an ad-hoc basis, canning any bid round plans in the process.
The first sign that this could be the case came at the end of December when US major ExxonMobil was awarded the North Marakia Offshore block (MEES, 3 January). Not to be outdone, MEES learns that compatriot and fellow major Chevron is due to be awarded two blocks in the region. Chevron has been in discussions with Cairo about taking the acreage since the beginning of 2019 and along with Exxon was recently awarded acreage in Egypt’s Red Sea region. This signaled Chevron’s entry into Egypt, with the firm also looking to take Western Desert acreage, MEES understands (MEES, 4 October). (CONTINUED - 502 WORDS)
