CAIRO: British oil major BP plans to invest more than $12bn in Egypt over the next five years, and to double its gas supplies to the local market in the next decade, the country manager of BP Egypt said yesterday.
“BP is committed to unlock Egypt’s oil and gas potential and gradually double its gas supply during this decade. This will be achieved by injecting more than $12bn in the next five years, Hesham Mekawi told an energy conference in Alexandria, referring to a project to develop the West Nile Delta.
BP is one of the largest foreign investors in Egypt, which wants foreign companies to help ease one of its worst energy crises in decades. Most international energy firms entered Egypt to develop energy for export, but as consumption has increased and production decreased, the government has diverted energy supplies to the domestic market, hurting companies’ profits.
Egypt plans to repay all its $4.9bn debt to foreign oil and gas companies within six months, the oil ministry said last month, a move it hopes will prompt them to boost exploration and ease the worst energy crunch in decades.
The country has delayed payments to oil and gas firms as its economy has been hammered by almost three years of instability since a popular uprising ousted Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Arrears began to accumulate before the revolt, but worsening state finances saw the debts mount to billions of dollars while the government diverted gas earmarked for export to meet domestic demand. Reuters
CAIRO: Egypt will launch a tender for a second LNG import terminal in the coming weeks, which could help address the country’s ongoing energy crisis, a source at the state gas board said.
High consumption, along with foreign firms’ reluctance to invest in the sector until the government pays billions of dollars it owes, have turned the country from a net energy exporter into a net importer over the last few years. Reuters
