Cairo – Mubasher: The British oil company BP Plc and the US-based Apache Corporation will begin their oil and gas exploration in Egypt by the fourth quarter of this year. Both firms are planning to drills around 10 wells with nearly $55 million in investments.
The American oil and gas exploration company will start drilling its first wells at the East Bahariya concession in the Western Desert within the next two or three months, local newspaper Youm7 reported, citing a top official at the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC).
BP Plc will begin exploration activities at its the Eastern Ramadan concession in the Gulf of Suez next October, the source indicated.
He noted that drilling and production operations will be assigned for Gulf of Suez Petroleum Co (GUPCO), which is a joint venture formed by the EGPC and BP managing the final operations at the Gulf of Suez’s concession.
In July, the Egyptian petroleum ministry had signed an agreement with Apache Corporation to explore and produce gas and oil at the Western Desert's eastern Bahariya conccession with around $9 million in investments, in addition to a signing bonus of $30 million to drill seven wells.
Moreover, the EGPC and BP Plc had signed a $46 million agreement for oil and gas exploration and production at the Eastern Ramadan area in the Gulf of Suez, along with a signing bonus of $4 million to drill three wells.
