EGPC opens 2009 license round

Offshore staff

CAIRO, Egypt -- The Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. is inviting bids for eight offshore exploration blocks under its International 2009 Bid Round No. 1.

All the blocks are in the Gulf of Suez sedimentary basin, and all have undergone previous degrees of exploration. In each case, 2D and 3D seismic and well data sets are available, except for Block 7, only covered by 2D data. The concessions are as follows:

- Block 1, West Darag. 433 sq km (167 sq mi), six wells. Previous concessionaires, Total and Apache. Nearby discoveries: North Darag, b2 and b3 oil wells
- Block 2, South Daragr. 259 sq km (100 sq mi), seven wells. Previous concessionaire BG Egypt discovered 41 MMbbl Warda oil field nearby in 1990
- Block 3, North West Abu Zenima. 276 sq km (106 sq mi), five wells. Previous concessionaire BP, Ras Budran and Warda are the nearest discoveries
- Block 4, East Ras Budran Offshore. 45.6 sq km (17.6 sq mi), three wells. BP was a former license holder, Ras Budran, GS172, GS173 oil fields nearby
- Block 5, North East Issran. 343 sq km (132 sq mi), seven wells. Dover and Arabian Oil were former license holders, oil discoveries in the area are Issran, North Amer, GS172, GS173, October
- Block 6, North East Morgan. 63 sq km (24.3 sq mi), one well. BP, Agib former concession holders; GS 277, Ramadan, Morgan, Badri are the nearest discovered oil fields
- Block 7, North East Amal. 28 sq km (10.8 sq mi), no wells. Agib, Amoco former license holders; Younis, Amal, Waly, Ghara Marine are nearby oil fields
- Block 8, North Ras Ek Ush. 164 sq km (63.3 sq mi), seven wells. Previously assigned to Devon and Agib. Oil fields nearby are GS 345, Nessim, Gamma, Amal, Waly and Sidki.

Interested companies can purchase data from EGPC Geological & Geophysical Information Center, Nasr City, www.egpc.com.eg. All bids must be received by Nov. 1, 2009.

07/13/2009