Egypt has announced a major oil and gas discovery in its Western Desert.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources described it as Agiba Petroleum Company’s largest find in 15 years and a positive signal to investors in a turbulent global energy market.
Preliminary estimates indicate it holds about 330 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 10 million barrels of condensates and crude oil, with total reserves of about 70 million barrels of oil equivalent.
The ministry said Agiba, a joint investment venture between the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation and Italy’s Eni, made the discovery through the exploratory well Bustan South‑1X using the Egyptian Drilling Company’s EDC 9 rig.
Eni was at the centre of another major Egyptian discovery this year, after the company announced in April it had found an estimated two trillion cubic feet of gas and 130 million barrels of associated condensates, about 70 kilometres off Egypt’s Mediterranean coast.
The ministry said the new discovery was made about 10km from existing production facilities and pipelines. It said this would allow for a rapid development plan and early connection to the network without major spending.
The ministry presented the find as evidence of recent incentives to international partners paying off, encouraging companies to step up exploration in areas adjacent to existing fields to cut costs and shorten the time from discovery to production.
Agiba has drilled a series of new wells and made several discoveries in the Western Desert in the past two years, helping lift its crude output to around 32,000 barrels per day by late 2025, the company’s highest level in three years.
The latest announcement comes as global oil and gas markets are disrupted by the Iran war, which has raised fears over a lack of efficient supply routes and pushed up benchmark prices sharply.
Brent crude has climbed by more than 50 per cent since the start of this year, briefly nearing $120 a barrel in late March, while the World Bank now expects global energy prices to be about 24 per cent higher than in 2025, the steepest rise in four years.
Natural gas prices have also surged, particularly in Europe, amid concerns about potential disruption in the Gulf and Eastern Mediterranean, adding urgency to efforts by producers, such as Egypt, to sustain and expand upstream output.
