Ministry of Petroleum: ExxonMobil Expands in Egypt with New Gas Exploration Area West of Zohr Field

On the sidelines of the ADIPEC 2025 conference held in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Engineer Karim Badawi, Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, and Dr. John Ardill, Vice President of Global Exploration at ExxonMobil, witnessed the signing of a letter of intent between the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) and ExxonMobil to expand natural gas exploration activities in Egypt’s Mediterranean waters.

Under the agreement, ExxonMobil plans to invest in a new concession area west of the Zohr gas field, near the border with Cyprus. This move strengthens the company’s investments in the Eastern Mediterranean and increases its offshore operational areas in Egypt to four, reflecting its confidence in Egypt’s attractive investment climate in the oil and gas sector and the vast opportunities in the region.

This expansion aligns with the first pillar of the Ministry of Petroleum’s strategy, which aims to boost production rates, intensify drilling and exploration activities, and attract more foreign investment. The announcement underscores ExxonMobil’s commitment to enhancing its investments in Egypt’s oil and gas sector and supports the development of Egypt’s infrastructure to integrate future discoveries into a unified system that reinforces Egypt’s role as a regional hub for gas trading and transportation in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Following the signing, the Minister and ExxonMobil’s Vice President held a meeting to review the company’s plans in Egypt, including drilling new gas exploration wells in the Masry and Cairo offshore blocks in the Mediterranean. They emphasized the importance of this incentive step to accelerate exploration operations, especially after advancing legislative procedures to implement a new investment-friendly model known as the Profitability Index System, which suits frontier and newly opened areas to encourage investment.

They also reviewed the status of the North Marakia offshore concession, where the “Nefertari-1” discovery was made, stressing the importance of fast-tracking its development and bringing it into production as soon as possible.