This investigation was produced with the support of Journalismfund Europe and Investigative Journalism for Europe (IJ4EU)

Just a few dozen meters from the waters of the Ashtoum El-Gamil Nature Reserve, a gas flare flickers from a stack along the road linking Damietta and Port Said, between the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Manzala, across which the reserve stretches for some 203 kilometers. It is a familiar scene for travelers heading toward the villages west of Port Said: an unremarkable flame rising from the Egyptian Propylene and Polypropylene Company, affiliated with the Zohr gas field.

This investigation traces the encroachment of oil and gas industries on sensitive ecosystems in Egypt, focusing on the Gulf of Suez, Port Said, and the Mediterranean coast. It draws on concession maps, spatial data, and overlaps with nature reserves, incident records, and testimonies from fishermen and reserve officials.

Ashtoum El-Gamil: A Reserve a Stone’s Throw From Factories

The Ashtoum El-Gamil area was designated a nature reserve in 1988, while the Egyptian Propylene and Polypropylene Company plant was established in 2016. The plant’s facilities sit alongside the reserve’s administrative building at a distance of roughly 200 meters, and its laboratories overlook the reserve’s shoreline on Lake Manzala. The company is located on the coastal road between Port Said and Damietta, with the Mediterranean to the north and Lake Manzala to the south. West Port Said gas processing stations linked to the Zohr field extend for nearly 5 kilometers, reaching the villages of El-Diba, El-Manasra, and El-Garabaa west of Port Said.

The Zohr field produces around 35 percent of Egypt’s domestic gas output and is operated through an Egyptian partnership with the Italian company Eni. Eni’s projects in Egypt affect an area of approximately 680 square kilometers, on land and at sea.

According to the Ministry of Environment, Ashtoum El-Gamil is classified as a wetland, but it is not among Egypt’s four sites registered under the Ramsar Convention (Bardawil, Burullus, Qarun, and Wadi El-Rayan). According to the company’s official website, the facility receives propane and propylene tankers with capacities ranging from 10,000 to 20,000 tons, at a rate of one ship per month, totaling about 120,000 tons annually.

About 5 kilometers from the reserve’s boundary begins the residential area of the villages of El-Diba, El-Manasra, and El-Garabaa, which directly overlook Lake Manzala. Most residents work in fishing, and many have been forced to move to more distant areas after nearby fishing zones were closed in favor of gas companies operating west of Port Said.

Al-Arabi Sayed (65 years old, a pseudonym) understands the economic returns of the Zohr field, but he retired because he can no longer row longer distances inside the lake. He now lives on a social solidarity pension.

He says: “Fishing has been affected by pollution and the closure of nearby areas. The lake dredging project removed many islands; fish stocks are relatively better now, but over the past few years quantities declined.” Al-Arabi also suffers from chronic asthma, which worsened after the factories were built.

Our visit coincided with a field mission by the reserve’s team to collect soil and water samples inside Lake Manzala to monitor the impact of factories as well as agricultural, industrial, and domestic wastewater outlets. Dr. Hussein Rashad, an expert in the Northern Lakes Protected Areas sector, says: “We comply with Environmental Law No. 4 of 1994 and its amendment No. 9 of 2009. Every facility submits an environmental impact assessment and specifies its outputs, and we hold it accountable accordingly. We conduct regular and surprise measurements within Lake Manzala and the reserve’s boundaries. As for air quality measurements and stack emissions, those fall under the responsibility of the Air Department at the Ministry of Environment.”

Rashad believes that Ashtoum El-Gamil and Lake Manzala are capable of recovery, given that they are wetlands that absorb carbon and store it in the soil. He notes that wetlands come second only to tropical forests in their capacity to deal with greenhouse gases.

From the administration building, gas liquefaction stacks and flare gas can be seen as indicators of operation, emitting carbon dioxide and methane. These rising gases— which have strained residents’ lungs— increase carbon dioxide levels. Meanwhile, Lake Manzala records a carbon sequestration capacity of 7.79 gigagrams of carbon per year, the highest among Egypt’s northern lakes due to its size, followed by Mariout (5.09), Burullus (4.47), and Idku (0.99). Even so, sequestration levels in Egypt’s lakes remain lower than those in Europe, South America, and colder regions because higher temperatures accelerate organic decomposition.

A 2022 joint study by the Universities of Port Said, Mansoura, and Damietta on carbon accumulation in Lake Manzala found that floating vegetation covered 13.1 percent of the area in 2001, compared to 23.4 percent for agriculture. By 2021, floating vegetation had declined to 0.7 percent, while open water surfaces increased to 49.3 percent. In 2021, built-up areas recorded the highest average carbon storage (6.6 tons of carbon per square kilometer), while barren lands recorded the lowest (0.1 ton per square kilometer). However, Ashtoum El-Gamil is not an isolated case, as concession maps reveal a broader network of contact between production sites and the boundaries of protected areas.

Where Do Concessions Intersect With Protected Areas?

The journalistic “Fueling Ecocide” project, led by the Environmental Investigative Forum (EIF) and the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) network, reveals that oil and gas licenses overlap with more than 7,000 protected areas worldwide, across a total overlapping area of 690,000 square kilometers—an area larger than France—despite existing laws and ongoing efforts to protect key biodiversity areas.

According to the project’s database, the overlap between extractive activities and designated protected areas in Egypt exceeds 44,000 square kilometers, with around 70 oil and gas licenses intersecting with 31 protected sites. Licenses held by more than 16 operating companies overlap with protected areas. For example, licenses held by the Egyptian Petroleum Holding Company (GANOPE) overlap with more than 30,000 square kilometers—mostly in the Western Desert—intersecting with the Gilf El-Kebir area. This is followed by the General Petroleum Company (GPC), whose licenses overlap with 12 protected areas covering more than 4,200 square kilometers, and Cheiron Holdings Limited, whose operations affect more than 3,100 square kilometers. The latter two companies’ activities are concentrated in the Gulf of Suez, focusing on oil and gas exploration and extraction.

GPC is classified as the company with the greatest impact on protected areas, affecting 14 protected sites in the Gulf of Suez and the Red Sea. It is followed by Cheiron Holdings Limited, whose licenses intersect with around 11 protected sites in the Gulf of Suez, the northern lakes reserves, and the Western Desert.

In the Western Desert, Cheiron’s operational area overlaps with approximately 40 percent of the UNESCO-listed Al-Qasr heritage city and about 64 percent of Al-Shuwayla. Along the Mediterranean coast, Cheiron operates near the Burullus Reserve, with an overlap of 11 square kilometers, while Eni’s operations intersect with Lake Manzala and Ashtoum El-Gamil by about one square kilometer within the boundaries of the protected area.

The companies concerned did not respond to Daraj’s questions prior to publication, with the exception of Eni, which stated in a response to the project’s partners that the concessions mentioned are exploration licenses. Regarding the Tiba license, which overlaps with Ashtoum El-Gamil, Eni said that the overlap is limited, as the protected area extends slightly into the sea, but that the site is not a marine protected area. The company added that biodiversity action plans (or equivalent measures) are currently underway or planned for launch in 2026 in several countries, including Egypt.

Eni further noted that “in 2024, the company had 32 exploration and production concessions overlapping with 18 priority biodiversity conservation areas (including protected areas) worldwide. However, concessions that have not yet entered the development or production phase, are not operated by Eni, or do not have active operational assets in the overlapping area, are not included in the company’s overall sustainability reporting.”

Ras Ghareb and Coral Reefs: More Oil Than the Red Sea Can Bear

Khaled (a pseudonym) emerged from the water with the viscosity of oil soaking his diving suit as he spread his nets along the shore of Ras Ghareb, an area affected by an oil spill from an exploration platform visible on the horizon.

Khaled has worked as a fisherman for 25 years between Ras Ghareb and Gabal El-Zeit, setting his nets near coral reefs before collecting them and sorting the catch. He says: “There hasn’t been a spill recently, but traces of oil always appear on the reefs or on the coastal rocks, as if they’re embedded in the sea.”

Off the coast of Ras Ghareb stand exploration platforms belonging to the oldest oil fields in Egypt’s Gulf of Suez, stretching from Zaafarana, south of Suez, to north of Hurghada. According to the Ministry of Petroleum, the gulf contains 188 extraction sites, including Gemsha, Ras Shukeir, Ras Ghareb, Gabal El-Zeit, and Ain Sokhna. These sites are operated by several companies: the General Petroleum Company (GPC), Gharib Petroleum Services, Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company (GUPCO), Petrojet, Zeitco (Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation), and SUCO (Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation).

The platforms operated by these companies lie just 30 kilometers from the Northern Red Sea Islands, which have been designated a protected area since 2006. Some oil fields operated by Petrojet and the East Zeit Port are located within the boundaries of the protected area. The region has recorded several spill incidents. In April 2011, 600 tons of crude oil leaked, spreading over 30 kilometers. This was the second-largest spill in less than a year, following an 800-ton spill in June 2010 that reached the northwestern part of the Ras Mohammed Nature Reserve and the city of El-Tor in Sinai.

Investigation data show that the General Petroleum Company’s operations overlap with 14 protected areas across the Red Sea islands and the Ras Shukeir salt marshes, with exploration and extraction sites located within nine officially registered protected areas.

An academic study by Dr. Khalil Mohamed Khalil (Fayoum University, January 2024), titled “Environmental Sensitivity to Oil Spill Pollution Along the Coasts of the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba,” documented 10 spill incidents between 2010 and 2013, as well as a spill in May 2021 involving crude oil from the Gemsha field, operated by the General Petroleum Company. In July 2025, an offshore drilling rig belonging to a private company that had halted operations in Egypt collapsed, though the Ministry of Petroleum stated that no spill occurred.

Within the area covered by field visits to Ras Ghareb and Zaafarana, there are five protected areas, three of which are marine reserves: Ras Mohammed, Nabq, Abu Galum, in addition to the Northern Red Sea Islands Reserve. Environmental sensitivity is extremely high, and the risk of spills remains significant due to the proximity of pollution sources. These sources include the shipping corridor in the Gulf, widespread oil fields, and loading and unloading ports: on the eastern coast (Ras Sedr, Abu Rudeis, Firan Badran) and the western coast (Sadat, SUMED, Ras Ghareb, Ras Shukeir, Gabal El-Zeit, East Gabal El-Zeit, and Petrojet).

Dr. Mahmoud Hanafy, scientific advisor to HEPCA and professor of marine sciences at Suez Canal University, explains that oil pollution has a negative impact on the marine environment. The global average for oil slicks is 9 kilograms of oil per square kilometer of sea surface, but in the Gulf of Suez previous studies recorded levels as high as 14 kg/km², a significant figure reflecting the density of companies, wells, and shipping ports.

He adds that the Red Sea is of exceptional ecological importance, hosting one of the world’s most significant coral reef systems, possibly the largest globally, at a time when reefs worldwide are expected to disappear by the end of the century due to warming. The Red Sea is subjected to overuse of biodiversity on top of pollution pressures. The carrying capacity for diving in Hurghada and reef areas is estimated at 22,000 trips, while the actual number exceeds 200,000 trips annually in Hurghada alone. Across the Red Sea, there are 150 registered dive sites, hosting around 6 million dives per year. The development crisis, he says, lies in focusing on hotel quantity rather than environmental quality.

He also notes that the Red Sea is not a particularly rich fishing area; its waters are nutrient-poor, like a desert, producing insufficient organic matter for fish reproduction except along the narrow coral reef belt. This makes fish stocks especially vulnerable to overfishing.

In Ras Ghareb, residents’ livelihoods depend largely on fishing or employment in the oil sector. The accumulation of oil residues and declining fish stocks are linked to oil settling on coral reefs, killing coral and food habitats. Khaled explains that the most affected species are sigans (rabbitfish) and parrotfish, which depend on reefs and coastal vegetation. “Oil kills them, whether it comes from rigs or ships,” he says.

Fishermen bear additional costs: nets become contaminated with oil residues and can only be cleaned using gasoline or diesel, which damages them and forces frequent replacement. Khaled wears a mask, goggles, and rubber boots up to the knee because the shoreline sediment in fishing areas has become saturated with oil, turning into a sludge-like surface. Despite these precautions, he developed chest allergies. Along with his friends, he built a makeshift wooden walkway to reach the water, avoiding the slippery oil patches.

Authorities ban fishing in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Suez between April and September to allow for spawning. In Ras Ghareb, fishing may also stop voluntarily due to strong winds that make fishing difficult and increase wave activity, dispersing oil slicks toward the shore. Abdelhamid (a pseudonym), a fisherman from Gabal El-Zeit, says: “We stop working often during ban months and spill periods, and we don’t receive adequate compensation. In 2019, a boat sank off Ras Ghareb, and oil affected the area for a long time. The fishermen’s association won a court ruling and compensation from oil companies for environmental damage and loss of livelihood, but the compensation was never distributed.”

He adds: “We work under harsh conditions. Sometimes the wind stops us; when it calms down, the shore may be covered in oil. Years of accumulation have turned the seabed barren, with coral dying and the organisms that feed fish migrating away.”

During a walk along the shore, Abdelhamid pointed to black patches: rocks and sand saturated with oil, and blue-black discoloration in shallow waters near the coast. “This darkness used to be small coral formations that hardened after being coated in oil.” Small boat moorings lie nearby, with drilling platforms visible on the horizon. “In Ras Shukeir, the situation is even worse.”

Access to the Ras Shukeir facilities is restricted to workers and environmental and petroleum inspectors. However, satellite imagery analysis has revealed the extent of extractive sites and their environmental sensitivity.

Where Does Governance Break Down?

Dr. Hussein Rashad’s testimony confirms that environmental impact assessments (EIAs) are the main reference documents for accountability, alongside regular and surprise field measurements, while the Air Department at the Ministry of Environment is responsible for monitoring air quality and emissions. However, field evidence and incident records raise questions about the adequacy of enforcement and the transparency of publicly disclosing results. At the same time, fishermen’s testimonies reveal stalled compensation processes despite the issuance of court rulings.

Addressing these gaps begins with mandatory transparency, requiring the regular publication of environmental impact assessments and the results of air and water measurements. This should be followed by the establishment of independent oversight bodies that publicly release their findings within affected protected areas, alongside clearly defined and actionable emergency response plans shared with local communities. Enforcing the “polluter pays” principle is also essential, through fair and binding compensation when livelihoods are disrupted by spills, as well as strict determination and regulation of the environmental carrying capacity for tourism, diving, and fishing.

Oil Spills and the Destruction of Sensitive Ecosystems

Dr. Adel Suleiman, director of the association “Environment Without Borders,” argues that oil spills reaching protected areas cause severe damage to marine ecosystems, particularly in mangrove areas, which he works to expand in the Marsa Alam Reserve. While ship accidents are not frequent near his area of work, spills recur within the Northern Red Sea Islands reserves, close to exploration zones. Pollution of mangroves kills the part of the tree responsible for respiration, especially in younger plants.

A Greenpeace Middle East and North Africa report notes that international oil companies exploit resources with insufficient regard for the environment or local communities, placing the environmental burden of oil and gas spills disproportionately on residents. Despite legal requirements to conduct environmental impact assessments before exploration, extraction, and development activities, such assessments are often carried out superficially, without the participation of all potentially affected stakeholders and without public hearings, as required by law.

Protected areas thus appear as islands of resistance, encircled by oil cities—from Ashtoum El-Gamil, where flames rise just meters from the shore, to the coral reefs of Ras Ghareb, suffocating under the viscosity of oil. What this investigation reveals is not a series of isolated incidents but a systemic pattern of heavily polluting industries encroaching on fragile ecosystems, accompanied by formalistic, ineffective environmental impact assessments.

This piece is part of the “Fueling Ecocide” investigative series, conducted by 13 international media platforms, coordinated by the Environmental Investigative Forum (EIF) and the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) network. Media Platforms: Mediapart (France), Reporters United (Greece), Domani (Italy), Daraj (Lebanon), InfoAmazonia (Brazil), InfoCongo (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Der Standard (Austria), The Bureau of Investigative Journalism/TBIJ (United Kingdom), El Espectador (Colombia), 24.hu (Hungary), Le Soir (Belgium), Expresso (Portugal), and InfoLibre (Spain). This investigation was supported by Journalismfund Europe and IJ4EU (Investigative Journalism for Europe). Data and geodata analysis by Leopold Salzenstein (EIF), Dafni Karavola (Reporters United), Alexandre Brutelle (EIF), and Yann Philippin (Mediapart). Graphic design and illustrations by Simon Toupet (Mediapart).