Shell Aims to Operate Egypt Concessions in 2020
Royal Dutch Shell is aiming to start operating in its concession areas in Egypt in the second half of 2020, a senior executive said.Shell won three oil and two gas concessions in Egypt in February.Eni, BP and ExxonMobil also won some of a total of 12 tenders as Egypt looks to sustain an investment upswing spurred by major discoveries.Shell has also applied to take part in a bidding round in Egypt for oil and gas drilling in the Red Sea, Gerald Schotman, executive vice president upstream JVs at Shell, told Reuters.The company would be also interested in any bidding for oil and gas drilling in the Mediterranean Sea should it open as Shell wanted to expand in Egypt…
Egyptian Oil Company Takes $200 Mln Loan for Electricity Generation
Egypt's state oil company signed a $200 million loan agreement on Tuesday with the African Export-Import Bank to help expand electricity generation and distribution, an Afreximbank statement said. The government announced in August that it was raising household electricity prices by 40 percent as part of plans to eliminate power subsidies in the next few years. Consumption of cheaper electricity has exacerbated energy shortages and power cuts in summer months. Afreximbank president Benedict Oramah said the facility agreed with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation would ensure uninterrupted energy supply for Egyptian industry by financing imports of oil and gas products.
No More 'Free' Saudi Money for Egypt
Saudi Arabia's financial support for strategic ally Egypt will no longer involve "free money" and will increasingly take the form of loans that provide returns to help it grapple with low oil prices, a Saudi businessman familiar with the matter said. "This is a change in strategy. Return on investment is important to Saudi Arabia as it diversifies sources of revenue," the businessman told Reuters on Friday during what has been described as a "historic" visit to Cairo by Saudi King Salman. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait showered Egypt…
Saudis Commit $20bln to Finance Egypt's Energy Needs
Saudi Arabia is expected to sign a $20 billion deal to finance Egypt's petroleum needs for the next five years and a $1.5 billion deal to develop its Sinai region, two Egyptian government sources told Reuters on Tuesday. The agreements are tabled to be signed on Thursday during a visit to Cairo by Saudi Arabia's King Salman, a rare foreign trip. Saudi Arabia, along with other Gulf oil producers, has pumped billions of dollars into Egypt's flagging economy since the army toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 after mass protests against his rule. The Gulf Arab countries see the Muslim Brotherhood as a threat.
Egypt Aims to cut Oil Debt to $2.5 bln
Egypt paid foreign oil companies $600 million in arrears in August and still owes them $2.9 billion, the petroleum minister told Reuters on Wednesday. Sherif Ismail also said Egypt aims to lower the amount of arrears it owes foreign oil companies to $2.5 billion by the end of 2015. Delays in paying back foreign companies had discouraged investment in Egypt's economy, battered by power cuts, attacks by militants and political turmoil triggered by a 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Egypt's energy sector received a boost last month when Italian energy group Eni said it had discovered the largest known gas field in the Mediterranean off the Egyptian coast…
Egypt Debt to Foreign Oil Cos at $3.5 bln
Egypt's debts to foreign oil companies stood at $3.5 billion dollars at the end of June, a 6.1 percent increase from March, an official at state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) said on Sunday. The country's payments to oil and gas companies have been delayed by economic instability since a popular uprising ousted leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011. "Foreign oil company dues with Egypt have reached $3.5 billion dollars," an EGPC official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Egypt's oil ministry said in March that it aimed to fully repay its debts to energy companies by mid-2016, about a year later than previously indicated.
IFC Plans $2 bln Investment in Egyptian Infrastructure, Power
The World Bank's development arm plans to invest between $1.2 billion and $2 billion in Egypt over the next four years, including around the Suez Canal, its regional director told Reuters. The International Finance Corporation is looking at ports and logistics projects, Mouayed Makhlouf, the IFC's director of Middle East and North Africa, said in an interview. The government is building a second waterway to accelerate trade flows through the canal, already one of Egypt's major sources of foreign currency. Besides infrastructure and energy projects, IFC…
Egypt owes Foreign Energy Firms $3.3 bln
Egypt owes foreign energy firms $3.285 billion having paid them $9.369 billion in arrears in the nine months to March 31, an oil ministry spokesman told Reuters on Thursday. The ministry told Reuters last month that it aimed to fully repay its debt to energy firms by mid-2016, a year later than previously indicated. Hammered by instability since a popular uprising which ousted leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011, Egypt has delayed payments to oil and gas firms. 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.
Egypt Court Acquits Ex-oil Minister of Corruption Charges
An Egyptian court acquitted former oil minister Sameh Fahmy of charges of selling cheap gas to Israel and squandering public funds and threw out his 15-year jail sentence, a judicial source said on Saturday. Fahmy was first arrested and held in custody in April 2011. Prosecutors said former president Hosni Mubarak's government sold gas at preferential rates to Israel and other countries, costing Egypt billions of dollars in lost revenue. The ruling is likely to raise fears among human rights activists that the old guard was making a comeback, especially…
Dana Gas Receives $60 mln from Egyptian Gov't
Egypt's government has paid Dana Gas $60 million, part of overdue receivables totalling $212 million, the Abu Dhabi-listed firm said in a statement on Sunday. Egypt has delayed payments to oil and gas firms as its economy has been hammered by almost four years of instability since a popular uprising ousted former president Hosni Mubarak. The Cairo government said in November it intended to repay all its energy-related debt within six months. (Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov; editing by Matt Smith)
Egypt Pays Down Foreign Energy Debt, Still Owes $3.1 bln
Egypt paid $2.1 billion of its debt to foreign energy companies, Oil Minister Sherif Ismail said on Wednesday, a move that could improve the investment climate and ease the country's worst energy crisis in decades. The payment was the third batch to energy firms in the past year, though the government still owes $3.1 billion, Ismail said in a statement. The statement did not identify the amounts specific companies would receive, but the foreign firms owed money by the Egyptian government include British majors BP and BG, the UAE's Dana Gas, and Italy's Eni.
Low Oil "Double-Edged Sword" for Egypt
Egypt expects to save $4.2 bln due to cheap oil in 2014/15. The fall in global oil prices will cut Egypt's fuel subsidy bill but could hit the finances of oil-exporting Gulf allies who have showered it with billions of dollars in aid. Oil has dropped dramatically over the past six months, with Brent crude trading at $60.87 a barrel on Tuesday, down 47 percent from this year's peak just over $115 in June. If it stays at that level, the government expects to save 30 billion Egyptian pounds($4.2 billion) on fuel subsidies for its 86 million people in the 2014-15 fiscal year. But that is less than half the total Gulf aid it received in the last fiscal year alone.
BP to Invest $12 bln in Egypt, Boost Gas Supplies
British oil major BP plans to invest more than $12 billion 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 on Tuesday. "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 $12 billion 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.
Egypt Curbs Energy Subsidies Spending
Egypt announced deep cuts in energy subsidies in its budget for the 2014/15 fiscal year on Monday, a first step toward reducing the deficit after three years of political turmoil that have battered the economy. Some 40 billion pounds ($5.59 billion) worth of savings were made by curbing planned spending on energy subsidies to 100.3 billion pounds in the next fiscal year, Finance Minister Hany Kadry Dimian told a news conference. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi rejected the first draft of the budget, which comes into effect on Tuesday, complaining that it was too extravagant and mounting debts would leave nothing for future generations.
Egypt Says BP Gas Project Restarted
Egypt's oil minister said on Thursday that BP's $10 billion gas project, stalled for three years, had restarted and that production would begin in 2017, a sign of progress in efforts to ease the worst energy crunch in decades. In another move that could help improve investor confidence, Sherif Ismail also said Egypt would pay $1.5 billion of the money it owed to foreign energy companies by the end of 2014. The minister told reporters on a visit to al-Aseel oil field in the western desert that production at BP's North Alexandria concession would begin in 2017, with 450 million cubic feet per day initially being extracted.
Egypt Reaches LNG Import Deal with Hoegh
Government, firm see terminal operational by third quarter. Expert calls timeline ambitious; gas badly need for power generation, industry. Egypt has secured a means of importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) that will help it address an energy crisis, although the LNG import terminal to be provided by a Norwegian firm will not be in place in time to ease painful gas shortages this summer. Egypt's oil ministry and Hoegh LNG said on Monday they had reached an agreement for Egypt to use of one of Hoegh's Floating Storage and Regasification Units (FSRU) for five years.
Egypt's Presidential Frontrunner Sisi Cautious On Energy Subsidies
Former Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is expected to win a presidential election this month, said in a television interview broadcast on Tuesday that costly energy subsidies could not be lifted quickly. "The subsidies can't be removed suddenly ... People will not tolerate that," Sisi told CBC and ONTV. Heavy spending on energy subsidies has taken a toll on the economy. But raising energy prices could trigger protests. After the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak, already high energy subsidy costs ballooned to a fifth of state spending as the Egyptian pound plunged and due to an expanding population.
Egypt to Pay $1b Owed to Foreign Oil Companies
Egypt will pay about $1 billion of the money it owes to foreign oil companies within the next two months, the state's MENA news agency said, quoting Oil Minister Sherif Ismail. Egypt says it owes some $6.3 billion to those companies. It last year said it paid $1.5 billion of the money it owes the international firms as part of a repayment scheme seeking to revive confidence in the economy after years of turmoil. "A new chunk of around $1 billion will be paid to foreign firms within two months," Ismail said on Tuesday. The country has previously said it…
Egypt Tries Harder to Stop Energy Firm Exodus
Egypt is enhancing exploration terms and striving to repay nearly $5 billion it owes to foreign oil and gas producers as it struggles to prevent them fleeing to more promising prospects elsewhere in Africa. Cairo needs them to expand exploration and bring new finds to production if it is to keep the lights on and avoid more civil unrest. But investors are hesitant - Egypt pays them barely enough to cover investment costs. The costing issue has been compounded since the 2011 overthrow of Hosni Mubarak by Egypt's inability to pay foreign firms for existing output and its decision to divert for domestic use the share of gas they normally get to export.
