Container ships cross under the Suez Canal Bridge in the waterway of the Suez Canal, Egypt, on August 6, 2023 (Suez Canal Authority)

Egypt's Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources announced on Tuesday that a new oil field has been discovered in the Gulf of Suez.

"Cheiron Company announced that it has made a new oil discovery in the Geisum and Tawila West Concession in the Gulf of Suez," the Ministry confirmed in a statement.

The oil field will be managed by Egypt's Petrogulf Misr, which is a joint venture between the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation and the Cheiron and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (Kufpec) companies, the statement pointed out.

Cheiron owns 60% of the operating interest in the concession, while Kufpec owns the other 40%.

"The [exploration] well was drilled from the recently installed GNN Early Production Facility and has been successfully placed on production at a rate of over 2,500 [barrels per day]," Cheiron indicated in a separate statement.

The company noted that it is the fourth well in the area, adding that with this discovery, oil production in the concession reached 23,000 barrels per day, compared with 4,000 barrels per day before the GNN field was developed.

"The new Nubia discovery confirms the exploration potential in the northern area of the concession and Cheiron and Kufpec are planning to drill at least three additional exploration wells in the concession area," Cheiron added.

"In a broader sense, the discovery also demonstrates that while the Gulf of Suez is a relatively mature hydrocarbon province, it still has significant remaining exploration potential," the company explained.

Egypt, the Arab world's third-largest economy, has been aiming to increase natural gas production in order to fulfill expanding local demand, as well as exports to Europe, according to The National news website.

The country's natural gas exports reached $8.4 billion in 2022, jumping 171% from the previous year, as Europe's energy crisis increased demand for the fuel, the website highlighted.

It noted that Egypt unearthed a massive gasfield off its northeastern Mediterranean shoreline in December, with potential reserves of 3.5 trillion cubic feet.

The discovery was made in Nargis, one of four offshore exploration blocks in which Chevron and Egypt's Tharwa Petroleum both have operational interests.

Egypt's energy industry, according to Tarek El Molla, the country's petroleum and natural resources minister, aims to attract $8 billion in foreign investment in the coming fiscal year.

El Molla stated that the funds will be used for development and operational projects in the oil and gas industry.

Egypt has $1.8 billion in offshore exploration plans to develop new gas wells in the Mediterranean Sea and the Nile Delta, The National pointed out.