Egypt signs $42mn gas exploration deal with Cheiron for East Alexandria offshore block

Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Karim Badawi oversaw the signing of a new agreement to explore for natural gas in the East Alexandria Offshore area of the Mediterranean, between the state-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) and Cheiron.

The deal commits Cheiron to a minimum investment of more than $42mn to drill three exploration wells and reprocess seismic data, as part of efforts to assess the area’s potential and find additional gas resources.

EGAS managing director Sayed Selim signed for the state company and Amina Taha, chief commercial officer, signed for Cheiron, in the presence of Cheiron chief executive David Chee.

East Alexandria Offshore was one of the blocks EGAS offered in its international bid round. It was awarded to Cheiron in June 2025, as part of a ministry strategy to open new opportunities to international companies and widen exploration in promising concession areas.

Push for output

Badawi said the new agreements were an important step towards speeding up exploration and allowing partners to start work programmes in new areas, which could lead to new discoveries and add to oil and gas reserves.

He said stepping up exploration, while accelerating the development of discovered fields and getting the most from their production, was central to the ministry’s plan to increase domestic output, meet a larger share of local demand and strengthen energy security in the coming years.

The minister praised Cheiron’s expanding work in the Western Desert, the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Suez, and its partnership with the sector through Badr El-Din Petroleum Company. He also commended the company for moving quickly to adopt horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the Western Desert to raise well productivity, and for its work developing and producing gas from the West Burullus field through Petroweb.

Chee said the new agreement was an important addition to Cheiron’s Egyptian portfolio and reflected a deepening partnership with the petroleum sector. He credited Badawi and the ministry with improving the investment climate and removing obstacles to projects, saying that support had helped the company invest faster and expand its exploration and production plans in Egypt.

Also attending the signing were Youssef Marwan, the ministry’s director-general for monitoring petroleum and mining contracts, and EGAS deputy managing directors Abdel Nasser Khafagy (production and field development), Ibrahim Abdou (agreements and exploration) and Hany Allam (legal affairs).