American multinational oil and gas company ExxonMobil has acquired more than 1.7 million acres for exploration offshore Egypt.
The acreage is expected to add upstream interests to ExxonMobil’s long-standing downstream presence in Egypt, where it has been a fuels, lubricants and specialties marketer since 1902.
The acquisition comprises acreage in the 1.2 million North Marakia Offshore block, which is located nearly 8km offshore Egypt’s northern coast in the Herodotus basin.
It also includes the remaining 543,000 acres is in the North East El Amriya Offshore block in the Nile Delta.
ExxonMobil exploration and new ventures senior vice president Mike Cousins said: “These awards strengthen our exploration portfolio in the Eastern Mediterranean.
“We look forward to working with the government and deploying our proven expertise and advanced technology.”
The company will own a 100% stake in the two offshore blocks and will be the operator.
Operations on the blocks, including the acquisition of seismic data, are expected to commence in 2020.
ExxonMobil Egypt chairman and managing director Hesham Elamroussy said: “ExxonMobil has been a partner in Egypt’s growth for more than 115 years, and these awards reaffirm our commitment to pursuing high-quality opportunities in the country.”
ExxonMobil starts oil production in Guyana
Recently, ExxonMobil announced that oil production has started from the Liza field, located in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana.
In coming months, production from the first phase of the Liza field is expected to reach full capacity of 120,000 barrels of oil per day.
The concept design for the Liza Phase 1 development project includes the Liza Destiny floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel moored 190km offshore Guyana, and four subsea drill centers supporting 17 wells.
The Stabroek Block is estimated to contain discovered recoverable resource of more than 6 billion oil equivalent barrels.
With a stake of 45%, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana is the operator of the block.
