Egypt’s Oil Minister, Tarek El Molla (photo), has revealed that by the end of 2016 state-holding company, Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) will issue tenders for oil and gas exploration and production in eight or nine concessions in the Mediterranean.

This makes the total number of concessions this year reach 30.

The new tender is expected to be issued as soon as the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and Ganope (Ganoub El Wadi Petroleum Holding Company) finalize the tenders being fulfilled this August.

EGAS plans to secure the needed regulatory approval for the concessions to be tendered.

Meanwhile the Chairman of Ganope, Sherif Sousa, has said that the Ministry of Petroleum plans to instruct international oil companies to commence the seismic mapping of the Red Sea area so as to attract investments in the region.

He said Egypt, under the new system for issuing exploration and production tenders that aim for technologically advanced companies, will be eligible to billions of dollars’ worth of research at no cost.

This is coming after an announcement by the Saudi cabinet to hold a meeting with Egypt regarding a possible MoU on the extraction of natural resources from the Red Sea, Energy Egypt reports.

Anita Fatunji