QatarEnergy to acquire stake in Egyptian exploration basin

QatarEnergy

• QatarEnergy to buy 23% stake
• Agreement for North El-Dabaa
• Adds to exploration portfolio

State-backed QatarEnergy has announced plans to buy a 23 percent stake in an offshore exploration block in Egypt from US oil company Chevron.

Chevron will retain a 40 percent interest in the concession agreement for the North El-Dabaa (H4) Block in the Mediterranean Sea. 

The other partners in the block, which is about 10km offshore at water depths ranging between 100 and 3,000 metres, are Australian company Woodside Energy, with a 27 percent interest, and Tharwa Petroleum Company, an Egyptian state company. 

“This agreement demonstrates our commitment to the oil and gas sector in the Arab Republic of Egypt, and further strengthens our partnership with our valued partner Chevron,” said Saad Sherida Al Kaabi, Qatar’s minister of state for energy and CEO of QatarEnergy.

• QatarEnergies buys into Suriname oil expansion
• QatarEnergy buys stake in Egypt exploration blocks 
• QatarEnergy profits down by 31%

QatarEnergy has acquired stakes in several oil and gas basins in recent years. 

In July it bought a 20 percent stake in a production-sharing contract for an offshore concession in the South American country of Suriname from Chevron. 

Two months earlier it signed an agreement with US energy major ExxonMobil to acquire a stake in two exploration blocks off Egypt.

And in the same month QatarEnergy was part of a consortium that agreed to develop the second phase of the Sépia oil and gas field, 200km off the coast of Brazil.

QatarEnergy reported in June that its annual profits dropped by almost a third after gas prices fell from the highs caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

It recorded a net profit of QAR101.9 billion ($28 billion) in 2023, down 31 percent on the previous year.