Pharos Energy drops plans to acquire Shell Egypt’s upstream assets

Oil and gas exploration and production firm Pharos Energy has quit the consortium assessing the acquisition of Shell Egypt’s upstream onshore assets in the Western Desert.

The company noted that its decision comes owing to the current market conditions due to a collapse in global oil prices.

Last month, Pharos Energy confirmed that it was part of a consortium in the preliminary stages of assessing the acquisition in Egypt.

The oil and gas explorer, however, did not disclose the other participants that are part of the consortium.

In October last year, Shell Egypt announced its intention to offload its onshore upstream assets in the Western Desert so as to fully focus on growing its offshore exploration activities in the country.

Assets included the company’s stakes across 19 oil and gas producing development leases in the Badr El Din and Obaiyed area. Also included are four exploration concessions, namely North East Abu El Gharadig, West Sitra, Bed 1 gas, and West Alam El Shawish.

Shell has been operating in Egypt since 1911. Most of the company’s upstream operations in the country are located in the Western Desert and Nile delta.

In Egypt, Pharos Energy has a 100% working interest (WI) in the El Fayum oil Concession located in the Western Desert. It is operated by Petrosilah, a 50:50 joint venture (JV) between Pharos and Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC).

Pharos Energy is also an operator with a 100% WI in the North Beni Suef Concession, located south of El Fayum.