Khalda Petroleum Company, the joint venture between Apache Corp of the United States and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, has delivered a standout exploration performance in the first half of fiscal year 2025/26 — notching 15 oil discoveries, adding approximately 15 million barrels of oil equivalent to its reserve base, meeting 100 percent of its oil production target, and surpassing its natural gas target by 7 percent.
The results were presented at the company’s general assembly, chaired by Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi, where the updated budget for the current fiscal year was approved alongside plans for 2026/27. Chairman and Managing Director Moataz Atef reported that the company drilled 26 development wells and carried out 75 workovers during the period, and outlined plans to drill 26 exploration wells, 31 development wells, and execute 45 additional workovers in the second half of the year. Khalda also fast-tracked additional gas injections into Egypt’s national grid ahead of the summer demand peak, coordinating directly with EGAS and GASCO.
Looking ahead to fiscal year 2026/27, Khalda plans to invest $1.043 billion, targeting 47 exploration wells and 57 production wells alongside infrastructure upgrades and safety digitalisation initiatives. Badawi used the assembly to press for accelerated drilling across Khalda’s Western Desert concessions and called for advanced reprocessing of seismic data to uncover new reservoir opportunities while reducing investment risk and lowering production costs.
The company’s momentum was already visible earlier in 2026, when Khalda announced two new natural gas discoveries within its Western Desert concessions in February. The North Opera-2 well, situated in the Matrouh Development area, yielded confirmed production rates of 21.15 million cubic feet per day of natural gas alongside 3,274 barrels per day of condensates — further evidence of the remaining exploration potential in Egypt’s Western Desert under sustained investment.
Source: Egypt Oil & Gas