Egypt to directly award West Med oil and gas exploration rights: Egypt will directly award contracts for oil and gas exploration blocks in the western Mediterranean to companies equipped to drill in deep water, Oil Minister Tarek El Molla told CNBC Arabia (watch runtime: 3:20). The government plans to offer some concessions through bid rounds, but the priority is to select companies with advanced technology to drill in the area, the minister said, adding that legislation for this will be announced this year. Egypt’s west Mediterranean coast has up until now remained unexplored for hydrocarbons.

A change of plan: State-owned gas firm EGAS was originally expected to put 11 gas exploration blocks up for auction this quarter.

The announcement comes less than a month after a successful Red Sea bid round, which saw three exploration blocks covering 10k sqkm awarded to Chevron, Shell and Mubadala at the end of December.

It has been an eventful week for the gas sector, which has seen Israel finally begin exporting gas to Egyptian shores, the formalizing of the seven-member East Med Gas Forum, and the near-completion of Eni’s Zohr field.