Egypt and the AD Ports Group have signed an agreement for the latter to build, develop, operate, and maintain passenger terminals and cruise lines in the Red Sea ports of Hurghada, Safaga, and Sharm El Sheikh.
The Egyptian Ministry of Transport said in a statement that the contract also commits AD Ports Group to develop yacht and cruise ship tourism in Egypt.
As such, the contract is expected to pave the way for the operation of cruise lines between Zayed Port, Safaga, Hurghada, Sharm El-Sheikh, and later the ports in the Arabian Gulf, Aqaba, Europe, and Asia.
AD Ports announced on December 27 that it had signed a final concession agreement with Egypt’s Red Sea Ports Authority (RSPA) to develop and operate a multi-purpose terminal at Safaga Port. Following the approval of the Egyptian government, this important achievement confirms the strong trade relations between the UAE and Egypt.
Al Wasl field
In other developments, Dragon Oil, a company owned by the Dubai government, began the new year by producing crude oil from the Al Wasl field (North Safa) in Egypt. The Al Wasl field is the company’s first oil discovery in Egypt.
The operation of the Al Wasl offshore platform came after the successful implementation of the first phase of the early production project for the Al Wasl field. It started following the completion of the evaluation operations of the well south of Belayim 293-5A. Production in the Al Wasl field commenced at an initial rate of 3,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
The Al Wasl field (North Safa) was discovered by Dragon Oil in 2021 and is the largest oil discovery in the Gulf of the Suez region in the past twenty years. The oil reserves exceed 95 million barrels at the very least. This prompted the company to adopt an ambitious early production project with a total investment of $200 million.
Read: Egypt auctions off $850 million in T-Bills to tackle dollar shortage
Offshore production platform
Dragon Oil said in a statement recently that the project includes establishing a new offshore production platform. Moreover, it will be implementing measures such as extending a production line and an electricity line to operate oil production pumps. In addition, it will build a water injection project to maintain high production rates and achieve the highest development rates for existing reserves.
The statement added that Dragon Oil intends to complete the Al Wasl field’s development as soon as possible. It will connect the second well south of Belayim 293-6 to the production line in mid-January. This will raise production capacity to 3,000 barrels of crude oil per day, thus increasing the platform’s production to 6,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
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