Egypt Signs $220m Energy Deals

Egyptian Oil Minister Tarek El Molla has signed three offshore oil and gas exploration and production deals worth a total of at least $220 million with France's Total, Britain's BP and Italian oil major ENI's Egyptian subsidiary IEOC, the ministry said on Wednesday. The deals include drilling for six wells and a signing bonus of $9 million, the ministry said in a statement, and are the result of a tender called by Egyptian state gas board EGAS. They are all in exploration blocks in the Egyptian Mediterranean Sea, Reuters reported. Egypt has gone from exporting energy to being a net importer as domestic output has failed to keep pace with rising demand. Saudi Arabia informed Egypt last month that shipments of oil products expected under a $23 billion aid deal had been halted indefinitely. The oil sector in Egypt has signed 73 oil and gas exploration deals with international oil companies in the past three years worth at least $15 billion.