Eng. Karim Badawi, Minister Of Petroleum And Mineral Resources: A New Seismic Survey In The Gulf Of Suez Using OBN Technology To Maximize Oil Discovery Opportunities And Increase Production

We are Expanding Seismic Survey Projects in the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf of Suez, the Western Desert, and Douthern Egypt to Open New Horizons for Exploration and Attract Investments

Eng. Karim Badawi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, witnessed the signing of a new contract between GUPCO and SLB to implement a seismic survey project using OBN technology in GUPCO's concession areas in the central and southern Gulf of Suez, with work set to begin next month. This aims at employing the latest technologies in detecting promising petroleum opportunities, reducing exploration risks, and stimulating the investments needed to increase domestic production.

The project covers an area of 1,035 km² and is the largest of its kind using OBN technology in the region, building on efforts to develop exploration activities in the Gulf of Suez, in cooperation between EGPC, and Dragon Oil, the investment partner in GUPCO.

The contract was signed by Eng. Abdel Wahab El Meghawry, Chairman of GUPCO; Geophysicist Tarek Gaber, General Manager and Managing Director of the company representing Dragon Oil; and Eng. Yasser El Tawansy, Managing Director for Egypt, Sudan, and the Eastern Mediterranean at SLB, in the presence of Eng. Salah Abdel Karim, CEO of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC); Dr. Mohamed Radwan, Vice Chairman of the South Valley Egyptian Holding Company for Petroleum for Agreements and Exploration and Director of EUG; and Geologist Ahmed Kamal, EGPC Deputy CEO for Exploration.

The Minister affirmed that expanding the use of modern technology represents a key pillar for maximizing the benefit from Egypt's petroleum resources through the integration of technology and investment. Modern technology provides a more accurate view of geological structures and layers, helps identify promising opportunities, raises the success rates of exploration wells, and reduces investment risks, thereby encouraging international companies to inject more investments into research, exploration, and field development activities.

The Minister added that the Gulf of Suez, despite its long history of oil production, still possesses promising opportunities that can be discovered and exploited through the application of the latest technologies. He pointed out that the new project represents an extension of a previous seismic survey phase that achieved important results and enhances the chances of accessing additional resources that support domestic production.

He also added that Dragon Oil's employment of modern technology and its injection of investments in its areas of operation contributed to raising GUPCO's field production to its highest levels since 2019, reflecting the importance of combining the modernization of geological data with the intensification of investment activities to improve exploration results and maximize the benefit from existing production assets.

The Minister pointed out that the Ministry's strategy is not limited to the Gulf of Suez but extends to implementing seismic survey projects in new areas of Egypt, with the aim of expanding the scope of oil and gas exploration.