At the end of last year, Apache Corp’s main interests in Egypt were in the Western Desert with 5.3 million gross acres in six separate concessions.
Jack Dutton. August 22, 2023
A US shale major plans to invest $1.4 billion to fund oil and gas explorations in Egypt in 2024, according to local media reports.
Apache Corporation, an oil and gas exploration subsidiary of Texas-based APA Corporation, plans to invest $1.4 billion into the North African country next year, according to Apache President and CEO John Christmann.
During a Sunday meeting with Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly, Christmann said his company has implemented modernization projects at its sites in Egypt to increase oil production by 10% to more than 150,000 barrels per day.
Tarek El-Molla, Egyptian minister of petroleum and mineral resources; Steve Rennie, chief financial officer of Apache; and David Chi, vice president of Apache and regional director of Apache Egypt, also attended the meeting.
Apache officials also discussed opportunities of extending the company’s activities in the Mediterranean Sea region to explore for natural gas, the Egypt Independent reported. Molla said Apache is among the largest US investors in Egypt, having first worked in the country around three decades ago.
At the end of 2022, the company’s main interests in Egypt were in the Western Desert with 5.3 million gross acres in six separate concessions, according to Apache’s website.
In December 2021, Apache agreed to invest $3.5 billion into exploration, development and the production of gas and oil from concession areas in the Western Desert.
Al-Monitor has contacted Apache Corporation and the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum for comment.
In July, Molla said that Egypt will invest $1.8 billion to drill new gas wells as part of offshore exploration in the Mediterranean Sea and the Nile Delta, the Emirati news agency WAM reported at the time.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s Petroleum Ministry on Tuesday announced a new oil discovery in the Geisum and Tawila West Concession in the Gulf of Suez. The ministry said the new discovery was made by Egypt’s Cheiron through the exploration well GNN-11, which produces more than 2,500 barrels a day.
Egypt intends to be a regional gas hub, but the country has been battling with persistent power cuts due to shortages of fuel oil needed to generate electricity for a population of over 100 million.
The North African country hosted UN Climate Change Conference COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh last year. However, the Climate Action Tracker rates Egypt’s climate policy as “highly insufficient” while the climate change performance index rates the country as “medium.”