Shell Approves Major Mediterranean Gas Development in Egypt’s Waters
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Omar Haddad
- . July 24, 2025
- . Update: July 25, 2025 12:43 am
The energy sector in Egypt is significantly boosted by Shell as they undergo a mega gas project off the Mediterranean Sea. This is yet another milestone towards energy independence in Egypt as the British energy giant has officially signed off on the development of the Mina West gas field. The Mediterranean gas reserves in Egypt are becoming a new area of major investment by foreign companies, and Shell is at the forefront of developing new offshore schemes.
The recent move by the company to undertake the development of Mina West gas field is a huge investment in the future of Egyptian energy and the security of the local gas supply. The presence of a Mediterranean gas project will exploit the infrastructure that is available to transport the gas that is reliable to the Egyptian consumers and help the larger energy independence agenda of the country.
Shell’s Mina West Gas Field Development Project
BG International, a subsidiary of Shell, has taken a final investment decision to explore the Mina West gas discovery in the Egyptian waters in the Mediterranean. The project is a 60-40 partnership scheme where the plug is Shell, which is the operator and the possessor of the major stake; the minority stake, on the other hand, is owned by KUFPEC (Egypt) Limited. The two are to collaborate closely by collaborating with the Egyptian state-owned natural gas holding company (EGAS).
Mina West gas field came into sight in October 2023 with estimated provisions of 0.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. This Mediterranean gas project is situated in the Quadrant Northeast El Amriya concession, where it will tie up to existing infrastructures using a subsea tie-back system. This would be the most efficient method because you will use the developed infrastructure of the West Delta Deep Marine (WDDM), so the cost of developing and the time will be minimized.
Dalia ElGabry, the Vice President and country Chair Egypt of Shell indicated that this project squared with the company strategy of providing secure energy with fewer emissions. The development serves both the domestic gas market in Egypt and increases integrated gas operations of Shell in the region.
Egypt’s Expanding Mediterranean Gas Production
The Mediterranean gas in Egypt is further expanding with various development stages in progress. WDDM concession is a primary point of a number of gas projects that are situated in the northwestern part of the Nile delta and around 90 kilometers offshore. Shell has operated the concession in association with the joint venture company, Burullus, which has recently realized big production milestones.
The new Phase XI development added two new wells earlier than expected. Sparrow West-1 well commenced its production in July 2025, and Siena DE well in June 2025. At a water depth of 600 to 880 meters, these wells supply more than 80 million standard cubic feet of gas per day to the Egyptian energy supply.
It is one of the ambitions of Egypt Petroleum Ministry as they take the current pace towards the third well at the same phase and aim to start production on it by September 2025. This is a very ambitious program in progress, considering that it was the result of the ambitions of Egypt to quickly increase its production capacity in the Mediterranean gas fields. The overall Phase XI development strategy will contribute as much as 130 million cubic feet of natural gas on a daily basis to the national energy generation.
Eisa A. Al-Maraghi, CEO of KUFPEC, pointed out the importance of the partnership to the energy collaboration in the region. The joint venture portrays a further establishment of KUFPEC in executing the upstream oil and gas projects in the Middle East and North Africa region.
