Egypt Approves Law for Oil Exploration in the Western Desert

The Egyptian Cabinet announced in a statement that it "approved a draft law authorizing the Minister of Petroleum to contract with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation and foreign companies to search for, develop, and exploit oil in the Ras Qattara development area in the Western Desert." The statement added that "the Ministry of Petroleum will enter into a contract under the draft law with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, Epex International Energy Holdings, and Ina–Industrija Nafte d.d., for the research, development, and exploitation of oil, which will contribute to injecting more investments to sustain development operations and increase production rates." In this context, Egyptian Finance Minister Mohamed Maait announced in a statement today, Wednesday, that the budget achieved a primary surplus of 150 billion Egyptian pounds (4.86 billion dollars) in the period from July to December of the fiscal year 2023-2024, with an overall deficit of 4.95 percent of the GDP.