The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (MoPMR) is advancing negotiations with France’s TotalEnergies over expanded gas exploration in the deep Herodotus Basin of the Western Mediterranean, with both sides aiming to finalize a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in the near term.
This came in a meeting between Karim Badawi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, and Pascal Brian, Managing Director of TotalEnergies in Egypt and Cyprus.
Badawi stressed the petroleum sector’s commitment to offering attractive opportunities for strategic partners to intensify natural gas exploration as a cornerstone of the ministry’s vision to gradually increase domestic production.
The Mediterranean region is a priority for Egypt in the coming phase, providing new opportunities for cooperation with leading international companies (IOCs) such as TotalEnergies, Badawi noted.
He highlighted the country’s promising petroleum and gas potential, strong infrastructure, and accumulated expertise as key advantages.
For his part, Briand expressed his appreciation for the petroleum ministry’s keenness to support partnerships with major IOCs, stressing that Total Energies considers Egypt a strategic market and intends to strengthen its presence and investments in natural gas exploration activities, especially in the Mediterranean region, in light of the promising opportunities it offers.
The Herodotus Basin spans over 90,000 km2 and represents a promising yet underexplored deepwater frontier with hydrocarbon potential. In February, Shell Egypt revealed the start of its 2026 Mediterranean drilling campaign of a multi-well program, including the Velox exploration well in the North Cleopatra area, within the Herodotus Basin.
