Egypt, a land of ancient civilizations and architectural wonders, has always been a crucial meeting point between Africa and the Middle East. With its monumental history, including the great pharaohs, the pyramids of Giza and the legendary influence of figures like Cleopatra, this country was for millennia one of the most influential civilizations in the world. However, more recently, Egypt also distinguished itself with a more modern resource: oil.. Like its neighbor Libya, Egypt seemed to harbor a huge treasure beneath its sands: vast quantities of oil. It was a fading dream that the national oil company is now seeking to save with a new oil discovery announced this week in a remote part of the Egyptian desert.
For several decades of the 20th century, the Egyptian oil industry established itself as one of the fundamental pillars of its economy. At its peak, Egypt produced nearly one million barrels of oil per day, establishing itself as a major player in the international energy industry. However, the situation has changed dramatically in recent years, and today the country produces around 540,000 barrels per day (without even covering its domestic demand), a significant decline that has highlighted the challenges and limitations that the country currently faces.
The oil mirage
The importance of oil in Egypt began to grow in the mid-20th century, when oil was discovered. large deposits in the Red Sea and the Western Desert. These results have boosted the Egyptian economy and attracted foreign investment, positioning the country as a major producer in the context of the global oil industry. Oil wealth has allowed Egypt to diversify its economy and finance infrastructure and development projects.
At its peak, Egypt was not only able to meet its domestic demand for oil, but also to export a considerable amount of it to the world market. During the 1970s and 1980s, production reached historic highs, reaching nearly one million barrels per day. This boom was essential to the country’s financial stability and helped to mitigate the effects of international economic crises that affected other countries.
However, as the 21st century progressed, Egyptian oil production began to show signs of exhaustion. The oil fields, after decades of intensive exploitation, began to decline in terms of production capacity, while investment and maintenance They were not appropriate in a country characterized by a stagnant economy and some internal instability.Efforts to find new deposits have had limited results, and the country has struggled to attract enough investment in exploration and technology to revitalize its oil sector.
Currently, oil production has been reduced to about 540,000 barrels per day, a figure that, while significant, is far from the levels that the country’s economy once supported. The decline has raised concerns about Egypt’s energy future, as the country has gone from being a net oil exporter to an importer at certain times of the year.
Hope for Egyptian oil
Still, this week saw some hopeful news. It was a crude oil discovery that was more symbolic than notable, but it could mark the beginning of the end of the decline in oil production in this millennia-old country. Khalda Oil Company announced on Tuesday New oil discovery in Kalabsha development zone in Egypt’s Western Desert. In a statement, Khalda, a joint venture between Egypt’s General Petroleum Corporation and U.S.-based Apache Corporation, said the discovery was “significant” and that the well had been tested by drilling 270 feet into Paleozoic sands.
The fact is that Egypt theoretically has a significant amount of oil. As long as there is oil, there is hope. According to the Oil & Gas Journal estimates, published on January 1, 2022, Egypt has the largest crude oil reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean, with some 3.3 billion barrels of proven reserves.. Investments will therefore not stop.
Recovery to date has proven sustainable with 7,165 barrels of oil per day, with a quality of 44 degrees and 23 million cubic feet of associated gas, according to the statement. Electrical recordings from the well showed traces of oil in the Paleozoic component.
A campaign to find crude oil
Also on Tuesday, Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources announced that the Egyptian Natural Gas Company had launched a new international tender in 2024 for the exploration and exploitation of natural gas and crude oil in 12 blocks in the Mediterranean and the Nile Delta.
This offer is part of the ministry’s efforts to attract new investments to Egypt, in line with its strategy. exploiting promising opportunities in oil and gas explorationas revealed by the ministry in a press release.
In July, Egypt announced plans to drill 110 exploratory oil and gas wells, with a total investment of $1.2 billion in the 2024/2025 fiscal year. Egypt aims to become a regional hub for oil and liquefied natural gas trading after major discoveries in the country in recent years, including the Zohr gas field in the Mediterranean, which contains about 30 trillion cubic feet of gas.
