Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Karim Badawi says the country is planning to make a major investment in its oil sector during the 2024/2025 current fiscal year.
According to the minister who made the disclosure at a parliamentary committee examining the new government’s agenda recently, the government in the northern African country would be investing $1.2 billion to drill 110 exploratory wells as part of a broader plan to invest $7.2 billion in the drilling of 586 exploratory wells by 2030.
Badawi stated that, the ambitious plan is intended to strengthen the country’s energy autonomy and ensure critical fuel sources for power generation, adding that, there are currently 145 active exploration agreements in oil and gas with 40 partners.
The minister also noted that the government is also highly committed to the issue of climate investment in the country, disclosing that some of its strategies was to ensure that a favourable investment climate is being bolstered through strengthened collaboration with foreign counterparts to arrange and pay off late payments, urging them to spend more and increase oil and gas output.
He said, “We are also launching international bids through the Egypt Exploration and Production Gateway, which focuses on making data on new areas of exploration available digitally to partners throughout the year.
“Our top priority is to continue coordination and cooperation with the Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy to provide the necessary fuel supplies to operate power stations.
“Because climate action and energy transition have become essential to Egypt’s sustainable development strategy, the ministry strives to take due consideration of the environmental aspects of its activities.”
Egypt stands as one of Africa’s largest oil producers with a production capacity of round 559,000 barrels per day.
The northern African country ranks amongst some of the world’s major oil-producing countries and amongst the top African oil producers including Nigeria, Angola, Algeria, Egypt and Libya which all have substantial oil reserves that have attracted international interest and investment that contributes significantly to their GDPs and export revenues.