Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Karim Badawi, witnessed on Saturday the start of drilling operations for a new well at the Nargis natural gas field in the Mediterranean Sea.
This step comes as part of ongoing efforts to develop the recently discovered field, in which Chevron serves as the main operator, in partnership with Italy’s Eni, along with UAE’s Mubadala and Egypt’s Tharwa Petroleum.
The minister inspected the launch of drilling activities aboard the drilling vessel “Stena Forth,” which had arrived in Egypt a few days earlier to begin operations at the field. He was accompanied by senior officials from the petroleum sector, as well as representatives from Chevron and Eni.
Badawi emphasised that the step reflects the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources’ efforts to encourage international companies to accelerate the development of untapped gas discoveries, including the Nargis field, and to bring them into production and development plans.
He noted that these projects are expected to positively contribute to increasing domestic natural gas production and reducing import bills, which remains one of the ministry’s key strategic objectives.
The minister praised President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s direct support, describing it as the main driver behind the growth of Egypt’s petroleum and mining sectors and stressed that transparency and integrity were central to all decisions.
On the matter of foreign partners’ receivables, the minister said reducing outstanding payments is a top priority. Efforts have cut arrears from $6.1 billion in June 2024 to $440 million currently, with the government committed to clearing all dues by the end of June.
Badawi highlighted measures to accelerate investment, noting that Egypt’s renewable energy strategy aims to raise its contribution to the energy mix to 48% by 2028.
Regarding exploration, he said the sector plans to drill 101 exploratory wells in the Western Desert, Nile Delta and Mediterranean in 2026. Discoveries include Qaher-2, in collaboration with Eni and BP in March 2026, and Shell resuming exploration activity.
He also welcomed the Cypriot government’s approval of the Kronos field development plan by Eni and Total, a historic step toward linking Cypriot gas to Egypt’s liquefaction facilities for export to Europe.
In mining, Badawi announced a nationwide airborne survey starting within weeks, spanning 18 months to boost investment and reduce exploration risks. He emphasised that human resources are the country’s true wealth, noting that 50 talented mining specialists were sent to Murdoch University in Australia for training.
He said transforming the Mineral Resources Authority into an economic authority marks a major shift and announced preparations for the Egypt Mining Forum on September 28–29.
