Arab Finance: The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources is expanding oil and gas exploration, refining, and natural gas infrastructure in Upper Egypt as part of efforts to attract new investments and unlock the region’s hydrocarbon potential, as per a statement.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly reviewed a detailed report submitted by Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Karim Badawi regarding oil and gas exploration activities across Upper Egypt.

The ministry is exploring new investment opportunities in untapped areas of the southern Western Desert, including West Assiut and Dakhla, to develop integrated geological and geophysical databases and identify promising exploration prospects for international oil companies.

It also signed six preliminary agreements to scale exploration activities across North as well as South El Baraka, Red Sea, Khart, Southeast Ras El Ush, and East Gabal El Zeit. Exploration activities in these areas are scheduled to begin in 2027, with potential crude oil production estimated at 5,000-11,000 barrels per day (bpd) by 2030.

Meanwhile, the ministry has added 20 new investment opportunities to the petroleum sector’s investment map, including areas in the southern Western Desert and the Red Sea, which will be promoted over the next five years.

In July, Egypt also launched a new bid round through the Egypt Exploration and Production Gateway (EUG) covering three blocks in the southern Gulf of Suez.

On the refining front, Egypt is implementing a plan to expand refining capacity in Assiut, including the diesel production complex at Assiut National Petroleum Manufacturing Company (ANOPC) and a new crude distillation unit at Assiut Oil Refining Company.

Future projects include a new gasoline production complex and a potential second ANOPC complex, ANOPC 2, targeting diesel, naphtha, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) production.

Regarding the natural gas connections in Upper Egypt, more than 2.195 million households had been connected to the natural gas network from the start of the activity in 2009 through June 2026, alongside around 9,432 commercial customers and 202 industrial facilities.

During the fiscal year (FY) 2025/2026, over 146,000 new household connections were completed, while the government targets adding over 179,000 households in FY2026/27.