Egypt inks its first WestMed oil, gas exploration agreements: The Oil Ministry signed yesterday MoUs with five international oil companies — Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, BP, Total, and ExxonMobil — for deepwater oil and gas exploration and production off its western Mediterranean coast, Minister Tarek El Molla told Sky News Arabia TV, according to Reuters. The agreements cover seven concessions, and will see exploratory drilling beginning early next year, El Molla said. No further details were provided.

The news came two days after the 2020 Egypt Petroleum Show wrapped. Here are the key takeaways from the final day:

Enppi, Petrojet, Technip, and ANOPC signed an agreement to set up a USD 2.5 bn mazut hydrocracking complex in Assiut, according to a ministry statement (pdf). The facility is expected to produce 2.8 mn tonnes of petroleum products annually, which will help cut down on Egypt’s imports.

EGPC gives greenlight to Emirati fuel delivery startup Cafu: Dubai-based fuel delivery app Cafu signed an MoU with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) at the conference that will see the EGPC “provide regulatory support” to the company in its entry to the Egyptian market, Cafu said in a statement (pdf). The company had announced its plans to expand to Egypt last week. No details were provided on the expected timeline or investment value.

Other agreements (pdf) signed on the final day of the conference:

• The Egyptian Natural Gas Company (GASCO), Enppi, and Petrojet signed an MoU to expand GASCO’s Western Desert gas complex and boost the facility’s capacity to 1.5 bcf/d from 600 mcf/d.
• The Suez Methanol Derivatives Company signed an MoU with the Egyptian Maintenance Company to construct a methanol derivatives facility in Damietta.
• The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), Egyptian Drilling Co., and Vantage International signed MoU to begin a deep sea drilling training program.
• The Egyptian Gas Services Company signed agreements with Clarkson Shipping Agency and the Sahara Petroleum services Company (SAPEsco) for the provision of support services for natural gas tankers, navigation and port transactions.

El Molla also held talks with the heads of ExxonMobil and Aramco, a ministry statement said (pdf).

In other oil news, SDX Energy has begun drilling the Salah well in South Disouq and is expected to reach a targeted depth of approximately 9k feet in late March/April, according to a company statement. The Salah well should connect to the same Kafr el Sheikh and Abu Madi formations that SDX Energy’s existing four wells are already extracting from. SDX plans to drill a new well in the same region upon conclusion of Salah’s drilling. The company also announced that it has plans to drill three wells in South Disouq, West Gharib between February and June, earlier this month.