British Petroleum (BP) announced on Monday that it was awarded two exploration blocks in the Mediterranean Sea, offshore of Egypt Nile Delta by the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company.

The Northwest Abu Qir Offshore Area — which BP holds 82.75% of and Wintershall-Dea holds 17.25% — is located west of the recently awarded North King Mariout block (BP 100%) and north of the Raven Field. It covers an area of approximately 1,038 sqkm with water depths ranging between 600 and 1,600 metres.

The Bellatrix-Seti East Block — in which BP and Eni, the operator, each hold a 50% share − is located west of the Atoll field and North Tabya blocks. It covers an area of approximately 3,440 sqkm with water depths ranging between 100 and 1,200 metres.

Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath — BP’s Executive Vice President for Gas & Low Carbon Energy said: “Egypt has long been important for BP, with almost 60 years of successful partnership and more than $35bn invested. We now look forward to an even more successful future, continuing to help meet Egypt’s growing energy needs by providing cost-competitive supplies of gas and supporting Egypt through the energy transition by exploring growth opportunities in hydrogen for example.”

For his part, Karim Alaa — BP’s Regional President for Egypt, Algeria, and Libya — added: “We have been awarded four new exploration blocks and a block extension in 2022, which offer the potential for gas discoveries that could be developed using existing infrastructure. Acquiring this acreage is part of our strategy to maintain a longer-term plateau production rate.”

In addition to the two new blocks, in 2022, BP was also awarded the King Mariout Offshore Area (100% BP), North El-Fayrouz Offshore Area (50% BP and 50% Eni, the operator), and the North El-Tabya Area Extension (100% BP).

BP operates the major West Nile Delta (WND) gas development, which currently produces around 900 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas and 27,000 barrels per day (mbd) of condensate. The development includes five gas fields across the North Alexandria and West Mediterranean Deepwater offshore concession blocks in the Mediterranean Sea.

BP has a strong presence in the East Nile Delta through its Pharaonic Petroleum Company (PhPC) joint venture and other partners’ operated assets. PhPC is a major gas producer with a current average production of around 450 mmcfd of gas as well as around 10,000 barrels per day of condensate. Together with its partners, BP currently produces around 70% of Egypt’s gas.

In early 2017, BP acquired a 10% stake in the Shorouk Concession from Eni, which contains the Zohr gas field.

BP is a 33% shareholder of the UGDC, a natural gas liquids (NGL) plant extracting LPG and propane, in partnership with Eni/IEOC and GASCO (the Egyptian midstream gas distribution company).