QatarEnergy and Shell PLC have signed a definitive agreement for the state-owned company to enter the North Cleopatra exploration block on Egypt’s side of the Mediterranean Sea, operated by the British energy giant.
QatarEnergy will own 27 percent. Shell will retain a 36 percent operating stake. The other partners are Chevron Corp with a 27 percent interest and Egypt’s state-owned Tharwa Petroleum Co with 10 percent, according to a QatarEnergy statement on Sunday.
North Cleopatra spans 3,400 square kilometers (1,312.75 square miles) with waters up to 2,600 meters (8,530.18 feet) deep, noted the statement on the company’s website.
“We look forward to working together and delivering our exploration objectives”, commented QatarEnergy president and chief executive Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, who is also Qatar’s energy minister.
The license area is in the frontier Herodotus basin and adjacent to the northern portion of the North El-Dabaa block, where QatarEnergy holds 23 percent, QatarEnergy said.
QatarEnergy obtained its North El-Dabaa stake from United States oil and gas heavyweight Chevron, in an agreement announced November 11, 2024.
North El-Dabaa lies about 10 kilometers offshore Egypt’s Mediterranean shore. The block has water depths of 100-3,000 meters, QatarEnergy said.
Australia’s Woodside Energy Group Ltd owns 27 percent. Tharwa Petroleum has the remaining 10 percent.
“We look forward to the drilling of the first exploration well on this block and to a successful and promising outcome”, Al-Kaabi said at the time.
Also last year QatarEnergy announced a deal to acquire a 40 percent stake each in the Cairo and Masry exploration blocks offshore Egypt from sole owner Exxon Mobil Corp. The blocks cover around 11,400 square kilometers with waters 2,000-3,000 meters deep, according to QatarEnergy.
“We look forward to working with our valued long-term strategic partner ExxonMobil, as well as with the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company and the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, in this promising and prospective region”, Al-Kaabi said in a company statement May 12, 2024.
On March 29, 2022, QatarEnergy announced an agreement with U.S. energy major ExxonMobil to buy a 40 percent stake in the North Marakia exploration block on Egyptian waters in the Mediterranean.
Elsewhere in Egypt, QatarEnergy previously entered deals with Shell to buy a 17 percent stake each in Blocks 3 and 4 on the Egyptian side of the Red Sea, as announced by QatarEnergy December 13, 2021.
In 2023 Egypt awarded a consortium consisting of QatarEnergy, Italian government-controlled Eni SpA and British energy major BP PLC exploration and production rights for the East Port Said block or EGY-MED-E8. QatarEnergy and BP each own 33 percent. Operator Eni has the remaining 34 percent, according to BP’s announcement of the award October 2, 2023.
To contact the author, email jov.onsat@rigzone.com
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