Minister of Petroleum, Tarek El-Molla, revealed that $10bn in new investments will be injected in petroleum exploration and production during the current fiscal year 2018/19. El-Molla said in a press statement on Saturday, that the turnout by major international companies in the ministry's oil and gas exploration bids represents a clear message of the confidence of foreign companies in Egypt's investment climate. He added that the international bid of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation for the year 2018 for oil and gas exploration in 11 regions in the Gulf of Suez and Eastern and the Western Desert has been closed, and the bids are being evaluated to announce the winning companies. Moreover, El-Molla pointed out that preparations are underway to launch an international bid for oil and gas exploration in the Red Sea region for the first time at the end of this year. A source in the oil and gas sector told Daily News Egypt that the Red Sea international bid will be under a new form of agreements, offering more incentives, such as, increasing the partner's share, reducing the expense recovery period, and setting the gas price after the commercial discovery, according to the size of the investments required for development, with the possibility of reviewing this price periodically. Egypt currently pays $2.65 to foreign partners for every million BTU in most of its agreements, except for some areas of deep water in the Mediterranean.
