Julien Pouget, Senior Vice President of Exploration and Production at French company TotalEnergies for North Africa and the Middle East, affirmed that making more technical data and information available contributes to improving the assessment of exploratory opportunities, confirming the company's aspiration to continue examining available opportunities during the coming period.
During his meeting with Engineer Karim Badawi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, he expressed the company's appreciation for the cooperation with the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, noting the continued work on evaluating promising exploratory opportunities in Egypt, in cooperation with technical work teams, and identifying areas with promising gas potential, in a manner that supports making investment decisions based on accurate technical data and studies.
For his part, Engineer Karim Badawi affirmed Egypt's keenness to accelerate the implementation of the project to link Cypriot gas to the Egyptian infrastructure, enhance cooperation with "TotalEnergies" to advance research, exploration, and production activities in the Mediterranean, and maximize the utilization of promising opportunities and natural gas resources in Egypt.
The Minister stressed that the progress achieved in the Cypriot gas linkage project from the Cronos field to the Egyptian infrastructure reflects the importance of the partnership between governments and global energy companies, pointing out that the high-level political support from the leaderships of Egypt and Cyprus has contributed to advancing the project and enhancing coordination among various parties, in a manner that supports accelerating implementation steps and overcoming challenges.
He explained that the project represents an important step towards enabling Cyprus to benefit from its natural gas resources and opening horizons for exporting them to markets by utilizing the Egyptian infrastructure to receive, process, and re-export gas, which enhances Egypt's role as a regional hub for gas trading and commerce and achieves mutual economic interests for all parties.
The Minister of Petroleum affirmed the presence of interest in expanding TotalEnergies' investments in the natural gas industry in Egypt, stressing the readiness of the Ministry to provide the necessary support to advance projects and work jointly to examine technical and commercial solutions that contribute to reducing costs and improving economic feasibility, thereby encouraging the company to expand its activities and accelerate investment decision-making.
