Egypt’s EGAS and Cheiron Sign East Alexandria Gas Deal With Over $42 Million Minimum
The Takeaway: The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) and Cheiron signed an agreement on 9 November to explore for natural gas in the East Alexandria offshore area of the Mediterranean. Cheiron commits a minimum investment of more than $42 million to drill 3 exploration wells and reprocess seismic data. Egypt’s petroleum minister called the signing an important step toward faster exploration, part of a plan to raise local output and meet more of the market’s needs.
The signing turns Cheiron’s East Alexandria offshore award, announced in June 2025, into a committed programme of exploration drilling and seismic reprocessing.
EGAS and Cheiron sign for 3 wells off Alexandria
Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Karim Badawi witnessed the signing on 9 November, the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said in a statement carried by the State Information Service. EGAS’s executive managing director signed for the holding company and Cheiron’s chief commercial officer for the company, in the presence of Cheiron chief executive David Chi.
The agreement covers the East Alexandria offshore area in the Mediterranean. It sets a minimum investment of more than $42 million for 3 exploration wells and the reprocessing of seismic data, aimed at assessing the area’s potential and finding more natural gas.
The statement does not split that minimum between drilling and seismic work. It gives no well depths, block size or drilling timetable.
East Alexandria was one of the areas EGAS offered in its international bid round. The award to Cheiron was announced in June 2025, under the ministry’s strategy of offering new investment opportunities to international companies and widening exploration in promising concession areas.
The ministry’s director general for following up petroleum and mining contracts and agreements attended the signing. So did EGAS’s deputy executive managing directors for production and field development, for agreements and exploration, and for legal affairs.
The minister ties new exploration to higher local output
Badawi said the new agreements mark an important step toward faster exploration. They let investment partners start work programmes in new areas, he said, and help add oil and gas reserves through new discoveries.
The minister said stepping up exploration, alongside faster development of discovered fields, is a central axis of the ministry’s plan. Its aims are to raise local production, meet a larger share of the market’s needs and strengthen energy supply security in the coming years.
He praised Cheiron’s exploration and production work in Egypt and its expansion across the Western Desert, the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Suez. He cited the company’s partnership with the sector through Badr Eldin Petroleum Company, where activity and operating programmes are being stepped up.
The minister also credited the company’s quick response to the ministry’s push for horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the Western Desert. He pointed as well to its work to develop and produce gas from the West Burullus field.
Badr Eldin is a joint venture of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) with Cheiron and Capricorn, as set out here on 5 November. Fracturing at its Al-Obayed H-18 well in the Western Desert aims to quadruple the well’s gas output. The ministry put the target at an estimated 12 million cubic feet a day, against an estimated 3 million.
Chi said the agreement is an important addition to the company’s portfolio in Egypt and reflects how its partnership with the petroleum sector has developed. He praised the minister and the sector’s teams for improving the investment climate, and said that support strengthens Cheiron’s ability to speed up its investment.
East Alexandria follows the Lotus announcement by 5 weeks
The agreement comes 5 weeks after the ministry announced EGAS’s agreement with Chevron for the Lotus offshore area of the Mediterranean, as set out here on 6 October. Lotus carries a minimum investment of $88 million, including 2 exploration wells and the reprocessing of 3D seismic data.
Lotus lies in water depths of 2,000 to 2,800 metres, where no deep exploration well had been drilled before.
In The Edge’s reading, both deals pair new wells with fresh work on existing seismic data, so the reprocessed data may help inform well placement; what East Alexandria adds to supply will depend on what the drilling finds.
The agreements build on a run of upstream work. Egypt put 591 new wells into production and made 113 discoveries between July 2024 and June 2026, the minister said on 20 October.
Dues owed to foreign partners fell to zero in June 2026, the minister told ADIPEC on 3 November. The minister said on 20 October that those arrears had reached an estimated $6.1 billion more than 2 years earlier.
Other recent steps include a seismic survey of up to 110,000 square kilometres of Western Desert concessions, signed by EGPC on 5 November. In the Mediterranean, the Nassim-1X well in the Tibah concession found gas estimated at 200 billion cubic feet in place, the ministry said on 6 November.
Local demand is the backdrop. Fertiliser makers told the Egyptian Exchange this month that they keep producing on the gas available, after supply reductions that Abu Qir Fertilizers Company put at 33% from 8 November.
Figures are from the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources statement of 9 November 2026, carried in Arabic and English by the State Information Service (the English item credits the Middle East News Agency). The minimum of more than $42 million follows the Arabic text; the English item gives $42 million. Earlier figures are as set out in The Edge’s posts of 6 and 20 October and 3, 5, 6 and 9 November 2026; periods not attributed to a source are The Edge’s calculations.
Sources: Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, State Information Service, The Edge.
