By: AGBI

Egypt has unveiled a five-year plan to boost oil and gas production, marking one of its largest exploration drives.

Under the programme, Cairo aims to drill 480 exploration wells with total investments of more than $5.7 billion, minister of petroleum and mineral resources Karim Badawi said in a statement.

The ministry has planned 101 wells next year, including 67 in the Western Desert, 14 in the Mediterranean, nine in the Gulf of Suez and six in the Nile Delta as part of its efforts to reinforce domestic energy security.

Badawi said the renewed momentum in the sector is driven by incentives launched in 2024 which helped attract new foreign investors. These reforms have resulted in 21 agreements worth $1.1 billion.

He said that a roadmap through to 2030 is being worked out to sustain the sector’s growth, adding that Italy’s Eni and the UK’s BP plan to invest $8 billion and $5 billion respectively in new exploration projects.

In September state-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co signed four agreements worth $340 million with global energy firms to expand exploration. 

The government is ramping up its petrochemical ambitions, aiming to raise exports to $4.2 billion by 2030 from $2.4 billion in 2025, the minister said.

Egypt, once a natural gas exporter, has become a net importer as a result of rapid growth in domestic use and a decline in local production.

In August prime minister Mostafa Madbouly announced that new projects and the awarding of contracts to foreign oil majors would increase Egypt’s gas output, enabling it to become an exporter again by 2027. 

The target is to gradually increase production to 6.6 billion cubic feet per day by 2027.