Qatari national oil and gas company QatarEnergy has agreed to buy working interests in two offshore exploration blocks on the Egyptian side of the Red Sea from Shell. QatarEnergy will hold a 17% working interest in Red Sea Blocks 3 and 4.
Block 3 was awarded to Shell in late 2019 and covers an area of 3,097 square kilometers in water depths of 100 to 1,000 meters. Block-4 was also awarded to Shell in late 2019 and covers an area of 3,084 square kilometers in water depths of 150 to 500 meters.
Upon the closing of the relevant agreements, the working interests in the two blocks will be as follows: Block 3: Shell (Operator - 43%), BHP (30%), Tharwa Petroleum Company (10%), and QatarEnergy (17%); Block 4: Shell (Operator - 21%), Mubadala (27%), BHP (25%), Tharwa Petroleum Company (10%) and QatarEnergy (17%).
Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, President and CEO of QatarEnergy said: “We are pleased with this important development, as it represents QatarEnergy’s entry into the Arab Republic of Egypt’s well-established upstream oil and gas sector and offers an opportunity for the consortium partners to explore this frontier acreage.”
Al-Kaabi added, “We are also delighted to have the opportunity to work with our strategic partner Shell, and to further develop our relationship with the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Egypt’s Tharwa Petroleum Company, and the other partners, whilst also pushing forward with QatarEnergy’s upstream growth strategy. I would like to thank the Egyptian authorities and our partners for their valuable support and cooperation.”