The Egyptian Kuwaiti Holding Company announced today that it plans to invest more in Egypt to enhance exploration operations and increase gas production through its subsidiary, North Sinai Petroleum Company.

The company’s statement to the Kuwaiti Stock Exchange mentioned that its Chairman met with the Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, and they agreed to expand the exploration areas granted to North Sinai Petroleum and convert an exploration area into a development contract.

This step follows the company’s success in discovering commercial quantities of light oil and associated gas in the Kharafi field, which began production in June. It is expected that the second well in the Aton-1 area will commence production in September.

The company’s investments in exploration and development at the North Sinai offshore field have reached $247 million since 2017, adding reserves of approximately 212 billion cubic feet of gas.