Cairo - Egypt's Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El-Molla signed three contracts for oil and natural gas exploration in the Western Desert on Friday, the Petroleum ministry said in a statement Saturday. The contracts were signed between the state-owned Egyptian General Authority for Petroleum (EGPC) and international oil companies Apache Corporation and Merlon International, LLC. The minimum value of investments in these contracts is $79 million, of which $41 million will be allocated to drill 17 exploratory wells. Two contracts were signed with Apache Corporation. The first is for exploration in the area of north western Razzak in the Western Desert, with investments worth $61 million. The second contract is worth $12 million for exploration in southern Alam el-Shawish area, also in the western desert. The third contract, worth $6 million, was signed with Merlon International, LLC for exploration in Fayoum governorate. El-Molla said in the statement that attracting investments in the oil and gas exploration field has been a priority for the ministry. He explained that international petroleum companies have been boosting their investments in Egypt since mid-2013, resulting in "important and promising discoveries in the Mediterranean." El-Molla added that the petroleum sector had succeeded in signing 79 new agreements for oil and gas exploration since mid-2013, with minimum investments of $15.3 billion.
