Cairo – Mubasher: Egypt's minister of petroleum and mineral resources Tarek El Molla has signed a new petroleum agreement under which the US' Apache will be given five-year extension for its exploration operations, according to a ministry statement released Friday.
The new agreement which entails investments amounting to $40 million (EGP 354.98 million) will include the drilling of 10 new wells as part of a non-refundable donation worth $48 million (EGP 425.97 million), the Ministry of Petroleum revealed.
The deal was signed by El Molla as well as Tarek El Hadidy, CEO of the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority (EMRA) and David Chi, region vice president and general manager for Apache Egypt.
Falling under Apache's cooperation and partnership, the new agreement aims to make use of the current infrastructure to reduce production costs as well as increase production, the minister said.
