Award of blocks in the competitive 2015 EGAS bid round

Cairo, 21th October, 2015

BP Egypt has announced today that it has been awarded three new exploration blocks in the 2015 Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) bid round. BP and its partners have committed to invest a total of $229 million in the blocks over different phases.

The first block: "North El Tabya" block, will be operated by BP at 100% equity. It is located in deep waters north of BP's recent discoveries Salamat and Atoll and covers an area of 2084 Km2.

The second block: "North Ras El Esh" block, BP will also operate the block, it is located in shallow waters to the east of the Notus discovery covering an area of 1389 Km2, at 50% equity with IEOC (ENI subsidiary) as 50% partner.

The third block: "North El Hammad" block, it is located in shallow water to the west of Baltim field covering an area of 1927 Km2 and was awarded to BP at 37.5% equity in partnership with Total at 25% equity and IEOC who will operate the block with 37.5% equity.

Hesham Mekawi, BP North Africa Regional President, commented: "BP is proud of the successful partnership it has had with Egypt for more than 50 years. Continuing to play a key role in the development of Egypt's energy sector, BP will deploy its expertise and latest technologies to exploit the resources in these new blocks. This investment confirms our commitment to meet Egypt's energy needs."

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About BP
BP has a long and successful track record in Egypt stretching back 50 years with investments exceeding $25 billion, making BP one of the largest foreign investors in the country. In Egypt, BP's business is primarily in oil and gas exploration and production. BP is working to meet Egypt's domestic market growth by actively exploring in the Nile Delta and investing to add production from existing discoveries.

To date, BP Egypt, in collaboration with the Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company (GUPCO), BP's joint venture (JV) Company with the Egyptian General Petroleum Company (EGPC), has produced almost 40 per cent of Egypt's entire oil production, and currently produces almost 10 per cent of Egypt's annual oil and condensate.

In addition, through joint ventures with EGPC/EGAS and IEOC (ENI) the Pharaonic Petroleum Company (PhPC) and Petrobel BP currently produces close to 30 per cent of Egypt's total gas.

The West Nile Delta (WND) Project is a strategic project for BP where BP has about 60 per cent equity in the project partnership. BP is the operator of the project.  The WND project concept maximises the utilisation of existing infrastructure: 

·         the BP - operated Taurus / Libra fields will be a subsea development tied-in offshore to existing Burullus facilities

·         The BP - operated Giza / Fayoum & Raven fields are two deepwater long distance tie-backs to the shore, where the existing Rosetta plant will be modified for Giza / Fayoum and integrated with a new adjacent onshore plant for Raven. 

BP has made a series of discoveries in Egypt in recent years including Taurt North, Seth South and Salmon and Rahamat, Satis, Hodoa, Notus, Salamat and Atoll. BP is a 33 per cent shareholder of an NGL plant extracting LPG and propane, United Gas Derivatives Company (UGDC) in partnership with ENI/IEOC and GASCO (the Egyptian midstream gas distribution company).

BP is also present in the downstream sector through Natural Gas Vehicles Company (NGVC, BP 40 per cent) which was established in September 1995 as the first company in Africa and the Middle East to commercialize natural gas as an alternative fuel for vehicles.

For further information, please contact:
Engy Emad
Media Relations Manager
Trans - Arabian Creative Communications (TRACCS)
Mobile: 010 0900 2207
Email: engy.emad@traccs.net

Further inquiries:
BP Egypt office: +202 2519 9915
BP London press office: +44 20 7496 4076 bppress@bp.com

© Press Release 2015