Egyptian oil firm to invest $1bln in upstream projects

They include drilling over 100 wells.

Khalda Company, a joint venture between the state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and the US-based Apache Corporation, is planning to invest at least $1 billion in upstream projects in western Egypt including drilling more than 100 oil wells.

Chairman Moataz Atef said last week that during the first half of the 2025/2026 fiscal year, the company made 15 oil discoveries, adding estimated reserves of approximately 15 million barrels of oil equivalent (mboe). 

“During the 2026/2027 fiscal year, the company aims to spend $1.043 billion, covering the drilling of 47 exploratory wells and 57 production wells, with an ambitious plan to increase production. Projects supporting the production plan are currently underway, including oil and gas pipeline networks and the power grid in the Razzaq area,” he said during a weekend meeting with Egypt’s Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Karim Badawi.

The company also continued implementing seismic data reprocessing programs in the Abu Gharadiq and West Kalabsha areas, he said.

Atef added that 26 new development wells were drilled, and 75 recompletion operations were carried out, contributing to achieving 100 percent of the production targets for oil equivalent and 107 percent for natural gas.

The plan for the second half of the current fiscal year is to drill an additional 26 exploratory wells, 31 development wells, and carry out 45 recompletion operations.

Apache holds the largest onshore oil and gas leasehold position in Egypt spanning approximately 7.5 million acres.

© ZAWYA