Egypt reaches agreement with Chevron to explore for gas and crude oil

Cairo witnessed the signing of an agreement to explore for and exploit natural gas and crude oil in the Lotus offshore area in the Mediterranean Sea, between the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) and global energy firm Chevron, with a minimum investment of $88 million. The project includes drilling two exploration wells and reprocessing three-dimensional seismic data.

Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Engineer Karim Badawi, stated that expanding the exploration map represents a key pillar in the strategy to increase domestic oil and gas production. This involves continuing to offer new areas to global companies, leveraging available geological and seismic data, and implementing new seismic survey programs in promising regions.

On another front, Nevine Mansour, advisor to the Egyptian Minister of Finance, said during discussions at the “Money Made Simple” conference in Alexandria that the Egyptian economy achieved a growth rate of 5.1 percent during the 2025/2026 fiscal year. She noted that most economic indicators were positive and aligned with the targeted fiscal trajectory, reflecting the strength of economic activity and its capacity to achieve high growth rates compared to emerging markets. She added that the growth in gross domestic product (GDP) reflects robust economic activity, as achieving this growth rate required high levels of economic activity.

She further stated: “Egypt is among the largest emerging markets to have achieved high economic growth rates. Several key sectors contributed to this performance, with technology leading at a growth rate of approximately 17 percent, followed by tourism at around 14 percent.”