Egypt steps up upstream gas push with new drilling partners and faster Harmattan timeline

The Oil Ministry is stepping up its upstream push, with Minister Karim Badawi holding separate talks with Greece’s Energean and ADNOC Drilling on expanding gas investment and launching a broader drilling program, according to two separate statements (here and here). The meetings point to parallel priorities: getting existing operators to accelerate exploration and field development, while bringing in additional drilling capacity and technology to support a planned ramp-up in onshore and offshore wells.

Why it matters: Egypt needs faster investment just to offset declining output. Domestic gas production fell to around 4.1 bcf / d in 2025, while existing fields were estimated to be losing roughly 120 mmcf / d each month; the ministry is targeting 160 new oil and gas wells this fiscal year, backed by at least USD 7.2 bn in planned foreign-partner investment. Energean’s potential expansion and ADNOC Drilling’s interest therefore remain early-stage signals rather than committed investment, but they fit the government’s wider attempt to restore upstream activity and reduce reliance on LNG imports.

One early test of that push is Arcius Energy’s Harmattan development in the Mediterranean: The company is now targeting first production by the end of 2027, rather than in 1H 2028. The USD 500 mn project is expected to eventually add some 200 mmcf / d of gas and 4.4k bbl / d of condensates, with the ministry pushing the company to identify technical options to shorten the development schedule.

MEANWHILE- Israel will cut natural gas exports to Egypt by roughly 50% to 600 mmcf / d for three days starting Monday due to maintenance at the Tamar and Leviathan fields, according to reports citing an Egyptian official, landing on a pipeline we reported three weeks ago was already at its physical carrying ceiling. Egypt ordered an emergency LNG cargo through Jordan’s Aqaba terminal to cover the gap, at an estimated cost of USD 50 mn.

Splitting debt

Maridive & Oil Services is separating the Egyptian- and foreign-creditor portions of its previous syndicated loan. Shareholders of the EGX-listed offshore oil services group approved rescheduling about USD 89.2 mn due to Egyptian creditor banks as of 31 December 2025 — excluding interest and other amounts — over five years to 31 December 2030, according to a bourse filing (pdf). They also approved assigning approximately USD 156 mn of the foreign-bank portion, as of 30 June 2026, to its Panama-registered affiliate Maridive Offshore Projects. The assigned amount comprises USD 133 mn in principal and USD 23 mn in accrued interest, excluding future interest and other amounts due.

The debt-assignment terms include an early-repayment condition under which Maridive Offshore Projects – Panama could receive a fixed reduction estimated at USD 60-70 mn from the debt due to foreign banks, if payment is made within six months of the binding term sheet becoming effective.

IN CONTEXT- The balance sheet work lands while the Arab Energy Fund is running its numbers. Maridive’s board gave the multilateral lender — formerly the Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation — access to begin regulatory and financial due diligence ahead of a potential acquisition. The fund is eyeing a preliminary USD 0.65-0.72 per share for 20% of Maridive, a 32-57% premium to the target’s three- and six-month trading averages.

More choice on the subsidy card

The government’s planned cashbased food subsidy system would widen the basket beyond cooking oil, sugar, and pasta, adding meat, grains, tea, milk, lentils, eggs, beans, poultry, and other essentials, according to a cabinet statement. Under the new mechanism, beneficiaries will receive the actual value of the goods available through the system, giving households greater flexibility to choose what they buy. The government says the revamp aims to widen consumer choice and curb waste and leakage rather than reduce the value of support.

REMEMBER- The broader switch has been in the works for months. We looked at the planned transition in June, when the government was preparing to begin moving away from in-kind food subsidies in FY 2026/27. The key question remains how the value of support will be kept from eroding as prices change.

Reuters also picked up the news.

Tycoon’s rights issue blocked

The Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) has blocked Tycoon Investments Holding’s EGP 23.9 mn rights issue, refusing to approve the invitation to existing shareholders after concluding the raise had no economic or regulatory justification, according to a statement (pdf). An independent valuation the regulator required put fair value at EGP 0.34 a share against a stock that had climbed more than 1.4k% in 12 months to trade above EGP 41 in June. The FRA board has since stripped the company of its securities promotion and underwriting license, sparing its two other permits — participating in company formation and capital increases, and portfolio formation and management — after Tycoon filed a work plan setting out how it would actually start doing the business.

Tycoon had already conceded the finding: In a June response (pdf) to EGX inquiries, the company told the bourse its revenue came entirely from trading its own equity portfolio and described the promotion and underwriting license as still in technical preparation and the portfolio management license as awaiting activation. The raise was meant to be the fix, with EGP 9.5 mn earmarked to activate portfolio management, EGP 7.2 mn for a fund management license, and EGP 7.2 mn for central custody and margin trading. Days before the FRA’s 6 August remediation deadline, the board recorded signing promotion and underwriting contracts with a fund manager and a private company (activities the regulator said were dormant).

REFRESHER- Tycoon Holding took a controlling stake of about 85% in what was then Alexandria National for Financial Investments in August 2021 — the rename and a 10-for-1 split were registered with the EGX in April 2026. The company reported EGP 5.56 mn of revenue for 2025, all of its portfolio gains and revaluation, swung to an EGP 1.09 mn net loss in 1Q, and carried accumulated losses of EGP 19.36 mn as of its 2024 accounts.

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