Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Karim Badawi witnessed on Monday the signing of a new agreement for natural gas exploration in the East Alexandria offshore concession in the Mediterranean between the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) and Cheiron, with minimum investments exceeding $42 million.
The agreement includes drilling three exploratory wells and reprocessing seismic data to further assess the area’s potential and identify additional natural gas resources.
The East Alexandria block was awarded to Cheiron in June 2025 as part of the ministry’s strategy to attract new investments and expand exploration activities in promising offshore areas.
Badawi said the agreement marks an important step in accelerating exploration efforts and enabling investment partners to launch work programmes in new concession areas, supporting the discovery of new oil and gas reserves.
The minister added that intensifying exploration activities, alongside accelerating the development of discovered fields, remains a key pillar of the ministry’s plan to increase domestic production, meet a larger share of local demand, and strengthen energy security in the coming years.
He also praised Cheiron’s role in Egypt’s exploration and production sector and its growing activities across the Western Desert, the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Suez. He highlighted the company’s participation in projects through Badr El Din Petroleum and its investments in gas production at the West Burullus field through PetroWeb.
For his part, Cheiron CEO David Chi described the new agreement as an important addition to the company’s portfolio in Egypt, reflecting the strength of its partnership with Egypt’s petroleum sector and its plans to expand exploration and production investments in the country.
