Cairo - The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) issued an auction Sunday for oil exploration and production in the Eastern Desert. In a public announcement on local newspapers, the EGPC set December 28 as a deadline. The bid areas are Wadi Dara and West Gharib at 50 kilometres and 20 kilometres of space respectively. The Ministry of Petroleum launched a sector development program that aims to develop oil and gas exploration, discovery and production, attract foreign investments, restructure the sector's companies, develop petrochemicals and refineries industries, and improve skills of human resources. Investment by foreign oil firms in Egypt rose to $8.1 billion in 2016-2017 from $6.6 billion a year earlier, Petroleum Minister Tarek El-Mulla said last week. The Ministry of Petroleum said in June that Egypt had reduced arrears owed to foreign oil companies to $2.3 billion Egypt's fiscal year runs from July to June.
