Mohamed Mounes Shahat will take the role of Egypt managing director for Neptune Energy, starting in December.
Mounes will join Neptune from the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum. Most recently, he has held the position of minister’s advisor for gas affairs.
The executive began his career with the Gulf of Suez Petroleum Co. as petroleum engineer, nearly 40 years ago.
Mounes will replace Gamal Kassem, who will remain in position until the end of the year.
“We are very pleased to welcome Mounes to the company at an important time for the business. He brings a wealth of experience to Neptune and a deep knowledge of the industry in Egypt,” said Neptune’s CEO Jim House.
The CEO went on to highlight progress at the company’s North West El Amal block, “following the seismic acquisition earlier this year. He will also build on our strong relationship with the Ministry of Petroleum and Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation as we progress work on our concessions.”
On the rise
The new managing director has held senior roles at Khalda Petroleum and was chairman of Egyptian Natural Gas Holding (EGAS) and deputy CEO at Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. (EGPC). He joined the ministry of petroleum in 2016 as first undersecretary of gas affairs. He then became the minister’s advisor for gas affairs.
During his time at the ministry, he worked closely with operators on projects such as Zohr and Nooros.
Western Geco completed an ocean bottom nodes (OBN) multi-client survey on Neptune’s North West El Amal block in May. This was the first ever OBN survey in Egypt. Neptune’s offshore block is in the central part of the Gulf of Suez, 42 km south of Ras Gharib.
The company signed up to work on the 365 square km North West El Amal block in February. It agreed to acquire 100 square km of 3D seismic and drill an exploration well in the first phase.