An employee of US oil company Apache was shot and killed in an apparent carjacking while at work in Egypt on 6 August.

The American man was driving along a desert road southwest of Cairo when he was attacked. Apache has yet to release the man’s identity.

“The victim was a long-time employee who works with production operations and we are deeply saddened by his death,” Bill Mintz, an Apache spokesman, told news agency Associated Press.

“Apache is working with authorities and a full investigation is under way.”

Apache has been active in Egypt since 1994 and its assets in the country produced 198,000 barrels of oil and 912 million cubic feet of natural gas last year.

In May, the firm announced two new hydrocarbon discoveries in Egypt:

• The Herunefer-1X discovery: Located in the Matruh Basin in the eastern portion of Khalda Offset Concession, encountered pay in the Alamein, Alam el-Buieb-6 (AEB), Masajid, Upper Safa and Lower Safa formations. Tests from the Lower Safa and Upper Safa intervals flowed at a combined rate of 49 million cubic feet of gas and 7,700 barrels a day (b/d) of condensate. The estimated cost to drill and complete the well was $6m.
• The BAT-1X discovery: Located in the northern Shushan Basin in the Khepri-Sethos Development Lease, tested at a rate of 31 million cubic feet of gas and 390 b/d of condensate from a thick Paleozoic Shiffah sandstone interval. The well, which was drilled to a total depth of 15,555 feet, also encountered pay in the Cretaceous Upper Bahariya, Lower Bahariya, Alamein, AEB-3C and AEB-3D formations. The estimated cost to drill and complete the well was $5.3m.