QatarEnergy has entered into an agreement with Shell to acquire a 27 per cent participating interest in the North Cleopatra block offshore of Egypt.

Under the terms of the agreement, which is subject to approval by the Egyptian government, Shell will retain a 36 per cent participating interest as operator.

 The other participating interest holders are Chevron (27 per cent) and Tharwa Petroleum Company (10 per cent). 

Saad Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, said: “We are pleased to secure this additional exploration acreage, which further expands our upstream exploration activities in the Arab Republic of Egypt.”

Minister Al-Kaabi added: “We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, and our partners in the block for their valued support and cooperation. We look forward to working together and delivering our exploration objectives.”

The North Cleopatra block is located offshore Egypt in the frontier Herodotus basin and is north and adjacent to the North El-Dabaa block, where QatarEnergy holds a 23 per cent participating Interest.

The North Cleopatra block covers an area of over 3,400 square kilometres in water depths of up to 2,600 meters. -OGN/ TradeArabia News Service