Egypt has accepted six bids for oil and gas exploration worth a total investment of up to US$200mn, the Ministry of Petroleum said
In May this year, the general authority for petroleum had announced an international tender for 11 oil and natural gas blocks in the Western Desert and Gulf of Suez at a time when Egypt aspires to increase its oil and gas production to meet the growing domestic demand for energy.
According to Reuters, Shell, BP, Apache Corp and Apex are among the companies that won bids, the ministry announced in a statement. BP’s bid was worth at least US$46mn, Apache’s at least US$60.6mn, and Shell has offered at least US$35.5mn.
The government has been on a drive to lure back foreign investors to its energy sector in an effort to boost squeezed public finances. Egypt already owes about US$3bn to international oil companies for the oil and gas they have supplied.
