Egyptian parliament has has approved two oil deals given the green light for the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources to sign contracts with foreign companies to search for and produce oil and gas.
One of the approved deals allows the South Valley Egyptian Petroleum Holding Company and Lukoil Overseas Egypt Ltd. to explore and extract oil in the South Wadi El-Sahl area in the Eastern Desert, according to Arab newspaper *Al-Mustaqbal*.
Another agreement allows the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation and Lukoil Egypt Limited to work in the nearby Wadi El-Sahl area.
These new deals are close to other oil projects that Russian company Lukoil is already involved in, including West Esh El Mallaha and its extension.
Lukoil has been working in Egypt since 1995. Its first project was the Meleiha oil block, where it owns a 24% share. The Italian company Eni, which leads the project, owns the rest. After carrying out detailed surveys and test drilling, several oil fields were found between 2007 and 2014, such as North Nada, Gavaher, Arcadia, Emri Dip, Rosa North, and Meleiha-West. Oil is currently being produced at Rosa North.
In December 2020, a new oil discovery was made at Arcadia South.
Lukoil also joined the West Esh El Mallaha oil field in the Eastern Desert in 2002. This area, near Hurghada, has been producing oil since 1998. In 2009, Lukoil expanded into a nearby area called the WEEM Extension. The company owns 50% of both projects and runs them, while Egypt’s Tharwa Petroleum owns the other 50%.
As part of the agreements, Lukoil carried out test drilling and advanced surveys of the land. Trial production began in 2010 after receiving a 20-year licence to develop the site.
