Egypt Signs Oil, Gas Deals

Egypt has signed a deepwater oil and gas exploration deal with Royal Dutch Shell and Malaysia’s Petronas worth around $1 billion for eight wells in the country’s West Nile Delta, the petroleum ministry said on Saturday. The country also signed a second $10 million deal with Rockhopper, Kuwait Energy and Canada’s Dover Corporation for exploration in the Western Desert, a ministry statement said, Reuters reported. Egypt aims to become a regional hub for the trade of liquefied natural gas after a string of major discoveries in recent years, including Zohr, which holds an estimated 850 billion cubic meters of gas. The country's natural gas production increased to 187 million cubic meters per day, on the back of a surge in the output of Zohr offshore gas field. The production of the Mediterranean field rose to 57 mcm/d, according to Egypt's Ministry of Petroleum. Egypt’s gas output stood at 144 mcm/d in 2017, up from 125 mcm/d in 2016.