Oil supermajor ExxonMobil said Monday it’s secured more than 1.7 million acres for exploration offshore Egypt from an undisclosed buyer, Kallanish Energy reports.
“These awards strengthen our exploration portfolio in the Eastern Mediterranean,” said Mike Cousins, senior vice president of Exploration and New Ventures at ExxonMobil.
The acquisition includes acreage in the 1.2-million-acre North Marakia Offshore block, located roughly five miles offshore Egypt’s northern coast in the Herodotus Basin. The remaining 543,000 acres is in the North East El Amriya Offshore block in the Nile Delta.
ExxonMobil will operate both blocks and hold a 100% interest. Operations, including acquisition of seismic data, are scheduled to begin in 2020.
“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,” said Hesham Elamroussy, chairman and managing director of ExxonMobil Egypt.
The awards add upstream interests to ExxonMobil’s long-standing downstream presence in Egypt, where it’s been a fuels, lubricants and specialties marketer since 1902.
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