Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tareq el Molla attended on Thursday the signing ceremony of an agreement with two international petroleum companies to conduct a geophysical survey in new areas that will be put out to tender for exploration in the Red Sea.
The agreement was signed by Egypt's Ganoub El Wadi Petroleum Holding Company, as well as the US Schlumberger oilfield services company and the British TGS oil and gas exploration company.
Under this agreement, a total of 750 million dollars will be pumped to collect geophysical data about new areas that could be excavated in the Red Sea, the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said in a statement.
The agreement reflects international companies' trust in economic reform decisions recently taken by the Egyptian government, Molla said.
It will also help attract new investments into the Egyptian market and open the door for more exploration operations in the coming period, he added.
The Egyptian-Saudi maritime border demarcation agreement, that was signed lately between the two sides, helps Egypt excavate oil in the Red Sea area for the first time, the minister pointed out, adding that this was impossible before the signing of the agreement.

Source: Mena