Egypt finalized on 20 January the award of eight blocks, five of which were initially awarded in February last year, following bid rounds launched by state firms EGPC and EGAS (MEES, 15 February 2019). Six of the eight blocks are located in the Western Desert, while the remaining two are in the offshore Mediterranean.
Anglo-Dutch major Shell was also awarded the Badr concession in the Western Desert alongside the three blocks it was awarded in the EGPC bid round. At Badr, it has a commitment to drill nine wells and invest $60mn (see table). Texas-based Apache which has all of its Egyptian acreage in the Western Desert also took two further blocks outside of the bid rounds. (CONTINUED - 224 WORDS)
