Egypt Announces New Oil, Gas Discovery in Western Desert

Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources announced a new oil and gas discovery in the Western Desert, marking a significant boost to the country’s domestic energy production strategy. 

The well, “North Lotus Deep-1”, was drilled by Agiba Petroleum Company, a joint venture with Italian energy giant Eni, and is already contributing to the national grid.

The discovery adds approximately 1,835 barrels of crude oil and 7 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, equivalent to around 3,100 barrels of oil equivalent. Initial estimates place the recoverable reserves at 5 million barrels of oil equivalent, signaling strong potential in the geologically rich Western Desert region.

“This success confirms that the Western Desert remains a highly promising area for oil and gas exploration,” said Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum, Karim Badawi, in an official statement. “It reinforces our strategy to increase local production and reduce dependence on imports.”

The announcement also highlighted another major technological breakthrough: for the first time in Egypt’s Western Desert, horizontal drilling techniques were used to extract hydrocarbons from the "Masajid Deep" layer, one of the region’s most complex and low-permeability geological formations.

The pioneering effort occurred in the North Rosa field, where the horizontal well is now producing 7 million cubic feet of gas and 550 barrels of oil equivalent per day, a sixfold increase compared to conventional vertical wells in the same layer.

“This is an unprecedented leap in production from a formation that was previously underperforming,” the ministry added, describing the success as a template for unlocking similar reserves across the desert.

In a review of company performance, Tharwat El-Gendy, Chairman of Agiba Petroleum, reported annual investments of $404 million, with stable production averages of 26,000 barrels of crude oil and 77 million cubic feet of gas per day, totaling over 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

El-Gendy also announced the launch of a new produced water treatment plant, which enables full reinjection of associated water into depleted reservoirs, an environmentally significant achievement in a traditionally resource-intensive sector.

Speaking at the same briefing, Francesco Gaspari, CEO of Eni’s Egyptian subsidiary IEOC Production, reaffirmed the Italian major’s commitment to Egypt, particularly the Western Desert.

“We believe this region holds enormous untapped potential. The successful unlocking of the Masajid layer is just the beginning. We plan to scale up operations here,” Gaspari stated.