The minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources reviews the most important axes of the ministry’s work at the current stage
Minister of Petroleum: adding new production during the first quarter (July – September) amounted to about 30 thousand barrels of oil per day and 133 million cubic feet per day
The drilling of 77 exploratory wells succeeded in adding 54 discoveries, 40 of which were oil and 14 gas discoveries
Adding reserves of 71 million barrels of oil and 680 billion cubic feet of gas
The number of agreements signed in a year amounted to 2024 seven agreements with a signature grant of 13.5 million dollar
The wheel of production development is already spinning with positive indicators
Engineer/ Karim Badawi, Minister of Petroleum and mineral resources, during the weekly press conference held by Dr. Mustafa Madbouly, prime minister, following the government meeting, today reviewed the axes of the ministry’s work during the current stage, the initial performance indicators during the first quarter of the fiscal year 2024-2025, and the targets of the new year 2025, on top of which the need to focus on production activities and accelerate them as soon as possible.
The conference began with an explanation by engineer/ Karim Badawi, of the objectives of the Ministry of Petroleum and mineral resources at the current stage, which are summarized in six axes.
In this regard, the minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources pointed out that the first axis highlights meeting The Citizen’s needs for Petroleum materials by focusing on production and exploration activities, stressing that this goal is one of the top priorities of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.
The minister explained that the second axis focuses on maximizing the utilization of petroleum wealth through refineries and petrochemicals to create added value, the third axis aims to achieve a breakthrough for the mining sector and maximize its added value, while the fourth axis focuses on working as one team with the Ministry of electricity and renewable energy to provide an energy mix to drive the growth of the Egyptian economy and take advantage of Egypt’s location for hydrogen production and energy trade, the fifth axis highlights the need to create an attractive investment environment, while maintaining safety, energy efficiency and reducing emissions, while the Sixth Axis aims to strengthen regional cooperation to attract investments in Egypt and the region.
The minister of Petroleum then went on to talk about the challenges faced by the oil and gas sector during the recent period, following the slowdown in production and exploration due to the increase in partner dues due to several factors, including: the existence of a gap between the selling price and cost, high levels of energy consumption as the global energy price increases, and the high exchange rate.
Engineer / Karim Badawi explained that all these factors led to a decrease in production, the cessation of new drilling activities, an increase in the import bill and pressure on the hard currency, and thus the accumulation of more partner dues and increasing the gap again between the selling price and cost.
Then, during the press conference, the minister spoke about the measures taken to face these challenges, which consisted in making periodic payments to partners ‘ dues to provide stable cash flows leading to the resumption of Production Development, Research and exploration activities, and launching investment incentive packages coupled with more flexible pricing of products while working to attract new investors; which resulted in reducing the import gap and reducing the cost of providing products to reduce the gap between price and cost, so as to end the problem of accrual and return the wheel of exploration and production without hindrance.
Meanwhile, the minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said: To achieve the ministry’s objectives and successfully deal with the current challenges and implement the announced measures, it was necessary to follow an integrative approach to achieve the set goals by working with various state institutions, coordinating within the Cabinet to secure the purchase of the necessary fuel, paying dues to foreign partners, working as a team with the central bank and the ministries of electricity and finance, as well as cooperating with the House of Representatives and the Senate, the energy, environment and industry committees to support the investment wheel through petroleum agreements and issuing their own laws and discussing and issuing any legislative amendments necessary to stimulate investment in the Petroleum and mineral resources sectors.
In this regard, the minister stressed the importance of continuing to work closely with foreign partners, indicating that the number of companies working in the field of research and exploration and production amounted to (57) companies, including eight (8) companies from the world’s leading companies and(6) Egyptian companies specialized, and more (12) is a global company specializing in the field of Petroleum Services and technology, explaining, in this regard, it has also been the launch of the stimulus package during the meeting with partners to promote the activities of production on August 26, 2024.
During his presentation during the weekly press conference of the prime minister, the minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources reviewed the most important positive indicators achieved during the year 2024, especially in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2024-2025.
In this context, the minister said: with regard to production, the current production has reached 1.4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, and the ministry is striving to increase production rates to achieve self – sufficiency and reduce import costs, pointing out that new production was added during the first quarter (July-September) amounted to about 30 thousand barrels of oil per day and 133 million cubic feet per day.
The minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources pointed to the most important activities of companies working in the field of production development, including the company “Eni”, which will resume drilling in the Zohr field, with the arrival of the driller to the field during the month of December (2024), to drill two wells in order to return the production plan before the cessation of drilling by introducing a new production of up to 220 million cubic feet per day, as well as the entry of rigs into the onshore concession area of the company “agiba” to start drilling, with the entry of 3 rigs to drill new wells and two rigs to repair Wells.
Added engineer/ cream Badawi: the BP gesture plan to expedite the second phase of the project (Raven) production in January (2025) by pumping additional investment, with the start in the pit field King at the beginning of the year (2025), with regard to the company “Apache”, the attribution of the 4 regions of the exploratory Western Sahara to the company for the purpose of speed put her on the map production, and the agreement on the stimulus package raised and gas region, to begin production, increasing gradually up to (80) Million ft3 per day by the end of the year (2025).
As noted by Minister of Petroleum and mineral resources to the success of the shell at the start of production from a well (Sibiu) on October 3, 2024 at a rate of 30–40 million ft3 day, and the entry of two more by the end of the year, in the tenth stage of the West Delta Deep for a total of (160) million ft3 / Day Investments of $ 227 million.
The minister explained, referring to the Egyptian companies working in the field of production, that IPR has succeeded in adding new quantities of production targeting to reach (15000) barrels of oil per day on production by the end of this year, and Ades has succeeded in adding new quantities of production targeting to reach (5000) barrels of oil per day on production by the end of this year.
With regard to exploration, the minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources reviewed some of the activities of companies operating in the field of exploration, especially after the launch of the new incentives package, pointing at the beginning to the results of the work of the year 2024 from January to October, where 77 exploration wells were drilled, succeeded in adding 54 achieved discoveries, 40 of which were oil and 14 gas discoveries, and reserves were added by 71 million barrels of oil and 680 billion cubic feet of gas.
Regarding the ongoing activities, engineer Karim Badawi reviewed the start of “Chevron” and”ExxonMobil” companies to drill exploratory wells in the western Mediterranean for the first time during November and December 2024, with the completion of the regional seismic survey on September 2024, for an area of 2185 km western Mediterranean, as well as the readiness to conduct the third phase of the regional seismic survey of the Gulf of Suez and the Red Sea.
The minister said: 17 new exploration areas have been assigned, namely :obsolete fields in the Gulf of Suez and the eastern Sahara , exploration areas (Western Sahara) , exploration areas (Gulf of Suez – Western Sahara) within the tender of the General Petroleum Authority.
He added that with regard to positive indicators in the field of agreements and investment opportunities, the number of agreements signed in 2024. 7 agreements reached 3.5 million Dollar, and 367.5 minimum investments and commitments to drill a minimum of 32 wells.
Engineer Karim Badawi pointed out that in August 2024, the Ministry announced 61 investment opportunities: 34 exploration areas belonging to the Egyptian General Petroleum Authority, 15 an area of obsolete fields belonging to the Egyptian General Petroleum Authority, and١٢ an exploration area in the Mediterranean Sea and the North Delta belonging to the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company, where a number of companies have expressed interest in 6 areas so far, and it is planned during the end of this year and next year 2025, that 15 new agreements will be signed, with a signing grant of up to 20 million dollars, and a minimum investment of 748.5 million dollars, a commitment to drill a minimum of 46 wells.
Then the minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources moved on to talk about the most important features of the year 2025, stressing that the wheel of production development has already begun to turn with positive indicators, and that the most important features of the coming year are 5 key points, namely: Accelerating the pace of development and production activities, which will help to compensate for natural attrition, increase production and reduce the import bill, accelerate exploration activities, which leads to the accelerated addition of new reserves, maximize the utilization of capacities at refineries such as the midor refinery and petrochemical plants to maximize added value and increase export revenues, continue gas delivery activities to homes and convert cars to work with natural gas, which contributes to reducing the cost of gasoline and car fuel because of its positive effects, and finally launch the electronic portal of mineral wealth and put forward a number of mining areas to attract investments.
The minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources pointed out that what was reviewed represents the facts presented by the Petroleum and mineral resources sector, this was reinforced by many positive reactions that were monitored from external reports in newspapers and international publications, which confirm that the future vision is positive and that this enhances the flow of investments. The credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s announced that Egypt’s rating has been fixed at (B/B-) with a positive outlook for the Egyptian economy. Companies are also racing to drill in the western Mediterranean region, and the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum intends to seriously seek to increase production and solve the problem of companies ‘ dues. Finally, there is a huge geological potential in Egypt in the field of mining.
