HOUSTON, Nov. 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- APA Corporation (Nasdaq: APA) today announced the Egyptian Parliament has approved the previously announced agreement to modernize and consolidate its current Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) with Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (MOP) and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC).

The PSC now goes to the desk of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi for his ratification, which is the next and final step for the revised PSC terms to take full legal effect. Once this has occurred, APA will provide additional details of the PSC changes and updated guidance regarding the financial impacts of various terms, APA’s revised investment plans and the resulting changes to the near-term production growth profile.

“This is the culmination of nearly two years of work with Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources and EGPC to modernize the economic and operational terms of our PSC. The changes will return Egypt to being the most attractive investment opportunity in APA’s entire global portfolio,” said John J. Christmann IV, APA’s CEO and president. “In anticipation of the approval, we had already increased our drilling rig count to 11 in 2021. Upon final approval, our investment activity will continue to grow into 2022, returning Egypt to a growing production profile and helping to advance the country’s position as a regional energy hub.”

As previously stated, the new PSC will consolidate the majority of the concessions operated by APA’s subsidiaries operating in Egypt (“Apache”) into a single new concession, which will account for more than 90% of the company’s gross production volumes in Egypt. The changes simplify the contractual relationship with EGPC and include provisions to create a single cost recovery pool, facilitate increased recovery of prior investment, adjust cost recovery and production sharing percentages, and refresh the term length of both exploration and development leases. The Apache subsidiary that will become the sole contractor under the PSC is owned by an Apache-operated joint venture owned two-thirds by Apache and one-third by Sinopec.

About APA

APA Corporation owns consolidated subsidiaries that explore for and produce oil and gas in the United States, Egypt and the United Kingdom and that explore for oil and gas offshore Suriname. APA posts announcements, operational updates, investor information and press releases on its website, www.apacorp.com. Specific information concerning Suriname, ESG performance and other investor-related topics are posted at investor.apacorp.com.

Forward-looking statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “seeks,” “believes,” “continues,” “could,” “estimates,” “expects,” “guidance,” “may,” “might,” “outlook,” “possibly,” “potential,” “projects,” “prospects,” “should,” “will,” “would,” and similar references to future periods, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements about future plans, expectations, and objectives for operations, including statements about our capital plans, drilling plans, production expectations, asset sales, and monetizations. While forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and analyses made by us that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, whether actual results and developments will meet our expectations and predictions depend on a number of risks and uncertainties which could cause our actual results, performance, and financial condition to differ materially from our expectations. See “Risk Factors” in Apache Corporation’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 25, 2021, and in our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for a discussion of risk factors that affect our business. Any forward-looking statement made by APA and/or its subsidiaries in this news release speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them. APA and its subsidiaries undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future development or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

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