Arab Finance: The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) signed a cooperation agreement with US-based Halliburton to conduct the necessary studies for drilling 50 oil wells across the General Petroleum Company's (GPC) operational areas, according to a statement.

Under the 18-month deal, they will cooperate on utilizing advanced horizontal drilling and multi-stage hydraulic fracturing technologies to maximize the exploitation of oil and gas resources, unlock new reserves, and boost local production.

The agreement falls under an initiative launched by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources to expand the use of innovative technologies in exploration and production activities. This program seeks to access untapped resources, including geological formations that were not economically viable to develop using conventional drilling methods.

For his part, Minister of Petroleum Karim Badawi expressed confidence in GPC's technical workforce and its experience in exploration, drilling, and production, praising its efforts to deploy advanced technologies and improve output from its fields.

The agreement builds on GPC's success in applying hydraulic fracturing technology for the first time to extract gas from the Abu Rawash Formation (ARF) at the NES-8 well in the Western Desert, which delivered nearly 3 million cubic feet (mmcf) of gas per day.