Egyptian tycoon Salah Diab's Cheiron signs $42 million offshore gas deal

Cheiron, the oil and gas company in Egyptian tycoon Salah Diab's PICO Group, has signed an agreement with the state-run Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co. to explore an offshore block in the Mediterranean Sea, committing more than $42 million to the search for new gas.

The concession covers the East Alexandria Offshore area. Under the deal signed on Nov. 9, Cheiron will spend a minimum of more than $42 million to drill three exploration wells and reprocess existing seismic data to judge how much gas the area may hold.

EGAS offered the block in an international bid round, and Cheiron won it in June 2025. The agreement went through Egypt's parliament before the signing.

Sayed Selim, managing director of EGAS, signed for the state company. Amina Taha, Cheiron's chief commercial officer, signed for the company, with Chief Executive Officer David Chee in attendance. Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Karim Badawi oversaw the signing.

Badawi said stepping up exploration is "central to the ministry's plan to increase domestic output," part of a wider push to meet local demand and shore up energy security. Chee called the agreement "an important addition to Cheiron's Egyptian portfolio."

Gas push

Egypt has been offering new acreage to oil and gas companies as it tries to lift production and cut its reliance on imported fuel. EGAS has awarded a string of exploration concessions to international and local companies in recent bid rounds.

Cheiron already has a sizeable footprint in the country. It operates in the Western Desert through Badr El-Din Petroleum Co., where it has used horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to raise well productivity. It produces gas from the West Burullus field in the Mediterranean through Petroweb, and it also works in the Gulf of Suez.

Diab's empire

Diab, an engineer, co-founded the Project and Investment Consulting Co., better known as PICO, which started out as Egypt's first oil services company. The group has since spread into finance, real estate, agriculture, engineering and energy.

PICO's energy arm includes PICO International Petroleum, PICO Energy Service Group and Cheiron Holdings Ltd. His son, Tawfik Diab, has run PICO Energy since 2004. His brother, Kamel Diab, is founder and chairman of the PICO companies.

Outside energy, the group owns Modern Agriculture Co. and La Poire, the Cairo pastry and confectionery chain. Diab also founded the independent daily newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm in 2004 and remains its chairman and largest shareholder.

The Diab family, from Beheira governorate in the Nile Delta, is counted among the wealthiest in Egypt.