BP lands new gas exploration rights in Mediterranean: Egypt awarded BP an offshore exploration block in the western Mediterranean’s King Mariout Offshore concession, giving it 100% of the exploration rights for the area, the company said in a statement (pdf). The 2.6k sq km area has potential for material gas discoveries that could be developed using existing infrastructure, BP said.

This is one of the blocks included in last year’s oil and gas exploration tender. The Oil Ministry had awarded eight of the 24 blocks from the tender to seven companies earlier this year. These blocks include Egy-Med-E5 in Port Said, which was awarded to Eni and BP on a 50-50 basis. It’s unclear so far what happened with the remaining blocks.

Our Med gas is hot right now: We haven’t had any updates on the government’s latest oil and gas bid round, which was set to be launched before June. But there’s been no shortage of announcements on fresh FDI to our Mediterranean gas industry. Firms including Chevron, Shell, and Eni have all recently signed agreements to help us up capacity, as Europe looks to new suppliers amid global shortages and the fresh rift with Russia over its war in Ukraine.

IN OTHER ENERGY NEWS- Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly set the price of natural gas for electricity plants at USD 3 / MMBtu, down from the USD 3.25 / MMBtu set in 2020, according to a decree published in the official gazette (pdf).