US oil supermajor, ExxonMobil, and North African country, Egypt, have signed two oil and gas exploration deals in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Egyptian Ministry of Egypt has revealed.
According to a statement from Egypt’s petroleum ministry, the two exploration deals call for a total investment of at least US$332 million.
Last year, ExxonMobil said that it had acquired more than 1.7 million acres offshore Egypt, adding upstream interests to its downstream business in the country.
The US supermajor bought the 1.2-million-acre North Marakia Offshore block, five miles offshore Egypt’s northern coast and 543,000 acres in the North East El Amriya Offshore block in the Nile Delta.
ExxonMobil, which will be the operator of both blocks with 100-percent interest, plans to start exploration operations this year.
Exxon’s foray into Egypt’s upstream comes at a time of heightened tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, where Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus are at odds over Turkey’s claim to natural gas resources recently discovered offshore Cyprus.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com