Eleven blocks were awarded out of 15 on offer from the Egyptian General Petroleum Company (EGPC). Shell bagged all three of the blocks for which it tabled offers – all of which were in the Western Desert (see table and MEES, 4 June for a map of blocks). TransGlobe bagged four blocks, three of which adjoin or surround its existing Eastern Desert (onshore Gulf of Suez) production heartland (MEES, 9 November). US firm Apache, Egypt’s largest crude producer, took one block, as did Greek independent Vegas and consortia led by UK-based Dana Petroleum (owned by Korean state firm KNOC) and Germany’s RWE Dea. Four blocks, including the two most remote and southerly blocks on offer in the Western Desert, attracted no bids.