CAIRO, Jan 17 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt’s Petroleum Minister Tarek al-Molla signed two agreements for oil and gas exploration in the Western Desert and the Suez Canal regions on Tuesday.

Egypt aspires to increase its oil and gas production to meet the growing domestic demand for energy.

According to the ministry’s statement, the first deal was signed with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and Sahary for Oil and Gas with a total investment worth at least $30 million.

The second deal was signed with the EGPC and the Offshore Shukeir Oil Co. (OSOCO) will carry out operations in the Suez Canal region on behalf of the EGPC.

With those two deals, the petroleum sector would have concluded 76 deals for oil and gas exploration with international companies since November 2013, according to the statement.

Investments are estimated to have reached $15.3 million in addition to one billion dollars allocated for drilling wells.

Late December, Molla signed three agreements with Italian energy major ENI's Egyptian subsidiary IEOC, Britain’s BP and French Total for oil and gas exploration in the Mediterranean Sea worth a total investment of at least $220 million.