QatarEnergy announced it will acquire a 27% participating interest in the North Cleopatra block offshore Egypt from Shell, which will remain operator with a 36% stake. The remaining interests are held by Chevron (27%) and Tharwa Petroleum Company (10%). The deal, pending Egyptian government approval, strengthens QatarEnergy’s upstream portfolio in the eastern Mediterranean.
The North Cleopatra block spans 3,400 square kilometers in the Herodotus Basin, with water depths reaching 2,600 meters. The acreage lies adjacent to the North El-Dabaa block, where QatarEnergy already holds a 23% stake, signaling a growing commitment to Egypt’s deepwater frontier.
Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs and QatarEnergy CEO Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said the acquisition “further expands our upstream exploration activities in the Arab Republic of Egypt,” adding that the company looks forward to working closely with Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and partners to achieve its exploration objectives.
The move reinforces QatarEnergy’s regional strategy of securing long-term gas resources and expanding its exploration footprint beyond Qatar. Egypt’s Herodotus Basin, located in the eastern Mediterranean, is viewed as one of the last underexplored areas in the region, with promising deepwater gas potential.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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[SRC] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/qatarenergy-expands-egypt-footprint-stake-092800615.html
