Dubai’s Dragon Oil confirms first oil discovery in Egypt’s Gulf of Suez

Dragon Oil, an upstream exploration and production platform fully-owned by Dubai’s Government, said on Tuesday that it has made its first oil discovery in Egypt’s Gulf of Suez.

The discovery is reportedly one of the largest in the area in the past two decades, and the field could contain around 100 million barrels in reserves, according to UAE state news agency WAM.

The announcement of the discovery was made on the sidelines of the ongoing Egypt Petroleum Show (EGYPS) 2022.

In 2019, Dragon Oil acquired BP’s stake at the Gulf of Suez Oil Company (GUPCO). As per the terms of that deal, Dragon Oil became the contractor with Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) instead of BP for all oil production and discovery concessions in the Gulf of Suez area where GUPCO was the contractor.

Read: Dubai-based Dragon Oil acquires BP stake in Gulf of Suez

At the start of EGYPS, Badria Ahmed Khalfan, Chief Human Resources Officer at Dragon Oil said that the company was aiming to ramp up production this year. ““Dragon Oil is working to continue its growth and expansion in the Egyptian market in 2022 through intensifying the exploration, development of fields and reparation of wells to increase the production from the oil fields in Gulf of Suez. The company aims to reach production rates of 65,000-70,000 barrels per day, compared to an average of 60,000 per day in 2021.”

Last year, Ali Rashid Al Jarwan, CEO of Dragon Oil outlined ambitious targets for the company across various countries where it operates. “At Dragon Oil, we are determined to achieve our sustainable growth targets through unlocking new opportunities around the world, including Turkmenistan, Iraq and Egypt. The board has put a strategy for us to increase production to 300,000 barrels per day by 2026.”