Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (MoPMR) has announced a new oil discovery offshore in the Gulf of Suez, following the successful drilling of the Northeast Ramadan Crystal exploration well (NER-1X), located in the North-East Ramadan Concession area.
The discovery was made by the Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company (GUPCO), the operating joint venture (JV) between the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and the UAE’s Dragon Oil.
The Ministry expects the new well to be brought onstream within days, with an estimated initial output of about 3,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) of crude oil.
According to the Ministry, the application of Ocean Bottom Node (OBN) seismic surveying technology enabled the identification of promising geological structures beneath the seabed that were previously inaccessible, significantly enhancing exploration efficiency.
Furthermore, the existing Al-Fanar platform (owned by EGPC) was used for drilling the well and initiating early production, eliminating the need to construct a new platform.
This measure greatly reduces costs and reflects the efficient utilization of the Petroleum Sector’s existing assets and infrastructure, the Ministry confirmed on November 20.
The new discovery supports the sector’s goal of stabilizing and increasing oil production.
Recent discoveries include Khalda Petroleum Company’s new natural gas find, Gomana-1, in the Western Desert, with an estimated production rate of around 36 million cubic feet per day (mmcf/d).
These successes align with the broader goals of the Petroleum Sector, which Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Karim Badawi previously highlighted while reviewing the sector’s progress since July 2024 aimed at retaining production levels.
Badawi stated, during the celebration of National Petroleum Day, that the petroleum sector recorded 75 new oil and natural gas discoveries and brought 383 new wells into production, adding 1.1 billion cubic feet (bcf) of natural gas and nearly 200,000 bbl/d of crude oil.
Additionally, Badawi noted on the ministry’s PetroCast podcast that current natural gas production has reached about 4.2 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d), with plans for further increases.
He added that crude oil production, after earlier declines, has now stabilized and is poised to enter a new growth phase supported by recent discoveries and investments in the Western Desert and Gulf of Suez. Crude oil production had previously stabilized at 540,000 bbl/d in February.
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