State-owned South Valley Egyptian Petroleum Holding Company (Ganope) will begin next month conducting seismic scans in Upper Egypt, where it plans to explore for natural gas, according to an Oil Ministry statement. Ganope will also soon begin the second round of seismic scans in the Red Sea to gauge the probability of natural gas discoveries after it launched last March a tender for 10 oil and gas exploration blocks off the Red Sea coast, three of which were awarded to Chevron, Shell, and the UAE’s Mubadala in December.