Cairo,Egypt – 15 October 2025
Egypt’s plan wides its explanation of Tender for Oil and Gas in Red Sea .
The government of Egypt is set to launch a new international tender for oil and gas exploration in the Red Sea, signal a renewed, determined push to unlock the vast, untapped hydrocarbon potential of the region. This ambitious move, announced at the prestigious World Energies Summit in London, demonstrates Cairo’s unwavering commitment to attracting global investment and consolidating its position as a major regional energy hub. The forthcoming tender, featuring four strategic concession areas and leveraging the cutting-edge Egypt Upstream Gateway (EUG) digital platform, is poised to reignite the hunt for substantial reserves and drive a major influx of foreign capital into the nation’s energy sector. Despite prior setbacks, the new international tender in the Red Sea is structured to offer fresh incentives, presenting international energy giants with de-risked and highly promising exploration opportunities.
A Major Announcement in London Signals Fresh Red Sea Push
The announcement was made by Karim Badawi, Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, during a high-level meeting on the sidelines of the World Energies Summit in London. Minister Badawi confirmed that Egypt is preparing to issue a new international bid round for oil and gas exploration in four concessions within the Red Sea area. The tender will be conducted digitally through the Egypt Upstream Gateway (EUG), the country’s modern digital platform designed to provide comprehensive geological data and streamline the bidding process for international companies.
This decision underscores the Egyptian government’s renewed focus on the Red Sea, a frontier region of immense geological promise that has historically remained largely untouched by intensive exploration activities, with the exception of the Gulf of Suez. The development builds on the foundation laid by the 2016 maritime demarcation agreement signed with Saudi Arabia, which clearly defined Egypt’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and opened the door to the deepwater exploration that followed.
Learning from Past Exploration Challenges
The new tender is being launched following the relinquishment of concessions by several major international oil companies (IOCs), including Chevron, Shell, and Mubadala Investment Company, earlier in 2025. These companies had previously secured blocks in the Red Sea’s inaugural international tender in 2019 but chose to exit their contracts after seismic surveys, conducted over a period of years and involving millions of dollars in investment, yielded uneconomic results. For example, reports indicated that one company had spent $34 million on a contract that initially stipulated a $10 million investment, yet failed to locate viable resources.
Rather than being deterred, the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources views this development as a necessary part of the exploration lifecycle and is leveraging the significant geological data gathered by those initial surveys to de-risk the new blocks. The new concessions being offered are expected to be focused on areas where advanced seismic surveys and data analysis have identified more favorable geological structures, providing international bidders with a much clearer picture of the prospective resources. This strategy of iterative exploration, incorporating lessons learned, is crucial for maximizing the success rate in frontier areas like the Red Sea.
Leveraging the Digital Gateway and New Data
A crucial element of the upcoming bid round is the use of the Egypt Upstream Gateway (EUG). The EUG, a state-of-the-art digital platform developed in partnership with global energy technology company SLB (formerly Schlumberger), provides international investors with seamless, digital access to over a century’s worth of seismic, non-seismic, well-log, and production data. This is designed to accelerate the evaluation of investment opportunities and significantly speed up the entire bid process, reducing the time and cost required for companies to make informed decisions.
Minister Badawi’s meeting in London with SLB’s Director of Exploration Data and Digital Solutions, Andrea Lovatani, further highlighted the importance of this digital partnership. In addition, the Egyptian government has awarded a new seismic data project to a consortium comprising SLB and geophysical services provider Viridien. This project, valued at $117 million for its first phase, is scheduled to begin in 2026 and will cover a huge area of 18,000 square kilometers. While this particular project is regional, the continuous effort to gather and process high-quality, modern geophysical data across all of Egypt’s promising basins, including the Red Sea, is vital for future exploration rounds and for attracting top-tier global operators.
The Wider Context of Egypt’s Energy Strategy
The Red Sea tender is a key pillar in Egypt’s broader national strategy to boost its hydrocarbon production and secure its position as a strategic regional energy hub for the Eastern Mediterranean.
Egypt’s daily natural gas production currently stands at approximately 4 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d), while domestic demand sits at around 6.2 bcf/d. This deficit means new discoveries are critical not only to meet rising local demand for power generation but also to resume and increase liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to Europe and other international markets, which is a major source of foreign currency.
Furthermore, the government is intensifying its overall exploration drive across the country. Just recently, the Ministry formalized partnerships with global firms for new exploration agreements in the Mediterranean and Nile Delta, committing a combined $343 million to drilling 10 wells across four concession areas. The Ministry is also pursuing ambitious plans to drill 480 new exploration wells through 2030, reinforcing the commitment to both new discoveries and maintaining output from existing fields. The Red Sea blocks, with their potential for major new finds, represent a high-stakes, high-reward component of this multi-pronged energy security strategy.
Headline Points
1- Tender Confirmed
Egypt will launch a new international tender for oil and gas exploration in four new concessions in the Red Sea.
2- Location of Announcement
The new bid round was announced by Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi on the sidelines of the World Energies Summit in London.
3- Digital Platform
The tender will be managed digitally via the Egypt Upstream Gateway (EUG), in partnership with global technology firm SLB.
4- New Data Strategy
The government is focusing on de-risking the blocks by leveraging data gathered from previous exploration and a new seismic data project worth $117 million that is set to commence in 2026.
5- Context
The launch follows the exit of previous concession holders, including Chevron and Shell, who did not find commercial quantities of oil or gas in the Red Sea in the last tender.
6-Strategic Goal
The tender is a critical part of Egypt’s strategy to increase its natural gas reserves and production, aiming to close the gap between domestic supply and demand and reinforce its status as a regional energy hub.
