LONDON/VIENNA (Reuters) – Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) is considering a foray into Egypt offshore oil and gas, seeking to replicate rivals’ success in the country and boost its reserves, officials and industry sources said.
Officials from the world’s largest listed oil producer recently held talks with Egypt’s petroleum ministry to discuss investments in oil and gas production, known as upstream operations, Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla told Reuters.
“We have been discussing with them, visiting them. They’ve visited us… We are exploring all opportunities for having more and further upstreamers in Egypt,” Molla said on the sidelines of an OPEC meeting in Vienna.
“I would be happy to have them with us,” he said, adding that no decision has been made yet.
Exxon declined to comment. The Irving, Texas-based company currently has no upstream operations in Egypt, according to its website.
The company is looking at exploring the eastern Mediterranean offshore basin, according to industry sources.
Italy’s Eni (ENI.MI) this month is set to begin producing gas from the Zohr field in the Mediterranean, among the biggest discoveries of the past decade.
In 2016, Exxon’s stockpile of total proved oil reserves fell 4 percent to 7.75 billion barrels. In addition, the oil in its portfolio is in hard-to-reach or expensive places, including Russia and Canada.
By comparison, rival Chevron Corp (CVX.N) has been able to boost its proved oil reserves by about 1 percent since 2014 by expanding in the Permian Basin and Kazakhstan.
Exxon’s oil production up to the end of the third quarter stood at 3.9 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, down about 6 percent from the end of 2016.
Oil majors’ production, reserves: tmsnrt.rs/2nGfmte
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