Shell continues to sell its assets in Egypt’s Western Desert

Shell is still open to receiving offers from potential buyers of the company’s onshore upstream assets in Egypt’s Western Desert, Shell Egypt’s country chair, Khaled Kacem, announced yesterday.

The Dutch oil giant said in October it was planning to sell its onshore upstream assets in Egypt’s Western Desert, in an attempt “to focus on expanding its Egyptian offshore gas exploration,” according to Reuters.

Kacem did not provide details about the names of the companies that have expressed interest in the tender or the date set to close the deal. He, however, pointed out that his company was starting “exploration activities in the country’s Western Delta region,” adding that it would then start drilling operations in the Mediterranean’s Rashid gas concession.

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“As for the new offshore areas, we [Shell] will start working on the seismic survey by the end of 2020 or early 2021,” Kacem noted.

Since incumbent president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi took power in 2014, Egypt has been seeking to become a regional hub for energy transmission and a leader in renewable energy in the region.

In 2015, Italian Eni discovered the so-called Zohr field which it said was the largest offshore gas field in the Mediterranean and would contribute to about 40 per cent of Egypt’s natural gas production. The field was also reported to would produce up to 2.7 billion cubic feet per day.