MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil company ExxonMobil has expanded its upstream acreage in Egypt after it acquired two offshore blocks, boosting its footprint in the gas-rich Eastern Mediterranean basin, reported S&P Global.
The acquisition includes 1.2 million acres in the North Marakia Offshore block and 543,000 acres in the North East El Amriya Offshore block, the company said Monday.
Exploration operations including the acquisition of seismic data will begin in 2020, ExxonMobil said, adding it will operate both blocks, holding a 100% stake.
"These awards strengthen our exploration portfolio in the Eastern Mediterranean," said Mike Cousins, senior vice president of exploration and new ventures at ExxonMobil.
The award marks Exxon's second upstream assets acquisition in the North African producer after picking up blocks in a major latest licensing round earlier this year. The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Corporation's bid round, the largest in its history, awarded 12 concessions to various oil and gas majors with Exxon picking up acreage for the first time.
Like many of its oil major peers, Exxon has been looking to expand its natural gas and LNG portfolio in recent years with major gas assets in Papua New Guinea and a stake in Mozambique's giant Rovuma LNG project.
ExxonMobil also has upstream interests in nearby Cyprus, where in early 2019 it discovered 5-8 Tcf (142-227 Bcm) at its Glaucus-1 resource.
ExxonMobil has said previously that if it can find at least 15 Tcf of gas it would seriously consider building an LNG export plant on the island.
The Glaucus-1 discovery has added to the vast gas resources already identified in the East Mediterranean, including the huge Leviathan and Tamar fields offshore Israel and the giant 30 Tcf Zohr gas field offshore Egypt.
Cyprus, Egypt and Israel have made significant gas discoveries in the East Mediterranean in the past decade, but monetizing the reserves has proved problematic.
There has been progress in the past year, with Israel agreeing to begin pipeline exports to Egypt, and Cyprus reaching a provisional deal to pipe gas from its Aphrodite field to Egypt.
Exploration also continues in the region, with expectations of more discoveries offshore Cyprus, Israel and Egypt from new drilling campaigns.
However, deteriorating relations between Cyprus and Turkey has disrupted some exploration activity.
Since Cyprus began offshore drilling more than 10 years ago, Turkey has sought to stop or control the activities in the Cyprus exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Over the past two years, Ankara - through state-owned Turkish Petroleum (TPAO) - has stepped up efforts to lay claim to much of the Cyprus EEZ.
As MRC informed before, in September 2019, ExxonMobil announced plans to spend GBP140 million over the next two years in an additional investment program at its Fife ethylene plant, which has a capacity of more than 800,000 t/y.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,904,410 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments increased from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,161,830 tonnes in January-November 2019, up by 7% year on year. Deliveries of all grades of propylene polymers increased, with the homopolymer PP segment accounting for the largest increase.
ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
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