Gov’t signs over USD 1 bn in exploration agreements with Shell, Petronas, others

**#3 Gov’t signs >USD 1 bn in exploration agreements with Shell, Petronas, others: The Oil Ministry signed a deep-water oil and gas exploration agreement with Royal Dutch Shell and Malaysia’s Petronas worth around USD 1 bn, according to an Oil Ministry statement on Saturday (pdf). The agreement would see the two companies drill eight wells in the West Nile Delta area. The government also signed a second USD 10 mn agreement with Rockhopper, Kuwait Energy and Canada’s Dover Corporation for exploration in the Western Desert, a ministry statement said.