Egypt has announced a major oil and natural gas discovery in the Western Desert — the largest made by Agiba Petroleum Company in 15 years — in a find that officials say will significantly boost domestic production, reduce import costs, and accelerate the country’s push for energy self-sufficiency.
The discovery was made through the exploratory well South Bostan-1X, drilled using the EDC-9 rig operated by the Egyptian Drilling Company. Initial estimates indicate reserves of approximately 330 billion cubic feet of gas alongside 10 million barrels of condensates and crude oil, bringing the total resource to around 70 million barrels of oil equivalent. The well encountered multiple sandstone and limestone reservoirs with a net pay thickness of about 400 feet, underscoring the discovery’s strong production and economic potential.
Agiba Petroleum is a joint venture between the state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation and Italian energy major Eni. The discovery gains added strategic significance due to its proximity to existing infrastructure — located just 10 kilometres from existing production facilities — enabling rapid development and early tie-in to production systems without the need for costly greenfield infrastructure.
Egypt’s petroleum minister said the discovery reflects the success of the ministry’s strategy to incentivise partners to intensify exploration in areas adjacent to existing fields. This approach is designed to unlock new resources near established infrastructure, reduce development costs, shorten production timelines, and encourage the deployment of advanced data acquisition and analysis technologies to improve exploration success rates.
The Western Desert announcement follows a recent natural gas discovery in the Nile Delta, where a well’s production capacity was estimated at 50 million cubic feet per day in the West Abu Madi concession area. Egypt is currently pursuing an ambitious plan to drill 101 oil and gas wells this year as part of a $5.7 billion government-approved investment to sink 480 wells over the next five years. In August 2025, Agiba had also announced the North Lotus Deep-1 discovery in the Western Desert, which was successfully brought onstream and is contributing approximately 3,100 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Source: agbi.com; egyptoil-gas.com