Egypt announces oil and gas bid round for 24 blocks

CAIRO: Egypt announced on Thursday the start of a bid round for exploration and exploitation of oil and natural gas in 24 blocks.

The round, which concludes on Aug. 1, includes nine blocks in the Mediterranean Sea, 12 in the Western Desert and three in the Gulf of Suez, an oil ministry source told Reuters.

Egypt’s gas production has boomed since Italy’s Eni discovered the giant Zohr field off Egypt’s Mediterranean coast in 2015.

The tenders were being offered by the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and Egyptian Natural Gas (EGAS), a ministry statement said.

Egypt also announced the launch of a digital portal, Egypt Upstream Gateway, to provide geological data for petroleum industry exploration and production activities. The country is trying to position itself as an energy hub in the eastern Mediterranean, importing gas from Israel and exporting to Jordan and potentially to Europe and Asia.

Egypt’s annual urban consumer price inflation eased to 4.3 per cent in January from 5.4 per cent in December, the official statistics agency CAPMAS said. Month-on-month, the headline indicator fell 0.4 per cent, the same pace of deflation as in December, the agency said.

Statistics data showed a drop of 0.4 per cent year-on-year in the prices of food and beverages, driven by a sharp decline in the cost of items such as potatoes, tomatoes and seasonal greens.

“A surge in local food stocks as well as low local demand both contributed to inflation slowing in January. Egypt is well-placed to face any upcoming price increases because of the commodity price rallies going on worldwide,” said Allen Sandeep of Naeem Brokerage.

Core inflation, which strips out volatile items such as food, fell to 3.673 per cent in January from 3.803 per cent in December, data from the central bank showed.

“We are due for another rate cut, but the timing of it would depend on a few variables including upcoming commodity price shocks, including oil and food, liquidity and carry-trade atractiveness,” Sandeep added.