Egypt's Petroleum Minister Tarek El-Molla signed a new exploration licence agreement with Neptune Energy for North West El Amal Offshore Concession on Wednesday. The signing took place on the side-lines of Egypt Petroleum Show (EGYPS) 2020. According to the agreement, Neptune will invest a minimum of $35m and an $11m grant for drilling 3 wells and will acquire 100 square km of 3D seismic data and drill one exploration well in the first phase, with two further wells planned in phase two. The North West El Amal Offshore concession covers 365 square km and is located in the central part of the Gulf of Suez, approximately 42 km south of Ras Gharib and 105 km north of Hurghada. Neptune said on Wednesday that the signing underlines the company's commitment to growing its presence in North Africa, an important region for the business. The signing ceremony was attended by CEO of Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), Abed Ezz El Regal; Neptune Energy's CEO Jim House; Vice President North Africa & Asia Pacific Philip Lafeber; and Neptune Egypt Managing Director Gamal Kassem. House said, "Our strategy is to invest and grow our presence in Egypt which is an important market for Neptune. We are committed to strengthening our presence in North Africa through exploration and production activities. "This is another important step for Neptune in the region and we're pleased to build on our strong relationships with our partners and with the Ministry." Kassem also said, "The Gulf of Suez provides many promising prospects and we look forward to working closely with EGPC to grow Neptune's business in Egypt." Also, on the sidelines of EGYPS, El-Molla signed several agreements including the signing of an agreement on the refining and petrochemical complex project to be established in the new city of El Alamein between the Egyptian Petrochemical Holding Company, BSW Group Holdings LTD, and Shard capital Partners LLP. The project's estimated investment cost of the project is $ 8.5bn and aims to exploit and maximise the added value of crude oil produced in the Western Desert fields to produce a package of specialised petrochemical products with a capacity of about 1.5m tonnes annually which are used as production inputs in many small and medium industries such as the plastic industries, textiles, auto feeding industries, printing materials, paints, and adhesives.
