The Most Anticipated Licensing Round Of 2021 By Viktor Katona - Apr 03, 2021, 12:00 PM CDT The energy markets have seen several major upsets during the 21st century yet one can state fairly confidently that the market slump of 2020-2021 has triggered the most damage of them all. This is also true for international licensing where dozens of rounds were delayed, either to 2021 or indeterminately, for fear of not generating enough interest amidst drastic CAPEX cuts and massive divestment schemes. The end result is that 2020 was the weakest year in terms of total acreage awarded to oil and gas companies since 2002 (0.35 million km2), roughly a third of what it was in 2019. The price rebound of February-March 2021 will provide a suitable springboard for new licensing round – it is this momentum that Egypt will try to capitalize on with its latest licensing round. Egypt’s last licensing round was held in 2019, then the Red Sea auctioning saw 3 blocks allocated between Chevron (Block 1), Royal Dutch Shell (Blocks 3 and 4) and Mubadala Petroleum (Block 4). Although a much-needed step to tap into a freshly opened-up area – Egypt and Saudi Arabia demarcated their Red Sea territories only in 2017 – Cairo failed to market all the 10 blocks that were on offer. Then came another licensing round that focused on the Western Mediterranean in early 2020, the state-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Holding (EGAS) was supposed to offer 11 blocks. This endeavor never really materialized, instead Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources awarded 7 blocks via direct negotiations to Western majors that supposedly were financially, technologically and organizationally ready to develop offshore projects in the Mediterranean.