The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources aims to launch three international oil and gas exploration tenders in 2019, in an effort to increase domestic oil and gas production rates, the Minister of Petroleum, Tarek El-Molla, told Daily News Egypt on Tuesday.

El-Molla said that one of the bid rounds by the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) will be for natural gas in the western Mediterranean region, while the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) will offer exploration areas in the Western Desert, the Gulf of Suez, and the Eastern Desert during the current year.

He pointed out that the first bid round will be for oil and gas exploration in the Red Sea, which falls under the jurisdiction of Ganoub El Wadi Petroleum Holding Company (Ganope).

In February, the results of the recent geophysical data analysis in the Red Sea, carried out by Schlumberger in cooperation with Ganope, pointed out that there is a 70% chance for new natural gas discoveries.

The Red Sea is one of the most promising areas in Egypt, as no exploration activities were undertaken before the agreement on the demarcation of the maritime border with Saudi Arabia in 2017.