Category: Egypt

By Summer Said Egypt plans to repay its $3.1 billion debt to international energy companies operating in the country by mid-2016, almost a year later than initially planned, the country’s oil minister said. "We have already reduced the debt from $6.3 billion at the start of 2013 to $3.1 billion at the end of last year," Oil Minister Sherif Ismail told The Wall Street Journal in an interview. "We have no certain timetable for the next payments but we plan to pay back the entire amount by mid next year." Since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and the turmoil that ensued, Egypt has struggled to pay foreign energy companies that provide oil and gas for its domestic market, including: BP PLC (BP), Apache Corp. (APA), BG Group (BG.LN) and Dana Gas PJSC (DANA.AD), an energy company based in the United Arab Emirates. Egyptian officials hope the […]

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Emirati energy company Dana Gas sees strong foundation for growth in Egypt. Photo: Dana Gas. SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 2 (UPI) — Emirati energy company Dana Gas said there was positive momentum building behind its exploration and production operations in Egypt. Dana said two concession agreements signed for operations in the Nile Delta provides the company, the sixth largest gas producer in Egypt, a strong foundation for growth . "We see this positive momentum continuing and are excited about our exploration and development plans in Egypt," Chief Executive Officer Patrick Allman-Ward said in a Sunday statement. Dana in early January said it received $60 million from the Egyptian government, which represents about a quarter of its outstanding debt . Political and economic instability in Egypt has left the government in debt to energy companies eager to tap the country’s natural gas potential. The government recently agreed to cover […]

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CAIRO (Reuters) – Twenty-five people were killed in a bomb attack on military buildings in the capital of Egypt’s restive North Sinai province on Thursday, while an army major was shot dead at a checkpoint in Rafah near the Gaza Strip, medical and security sources said. The flagship government newspaper, al-Ahram, said its office in the town of Al-Arish, which is situated opposite a military hotel and base that security sources said were the intended targets of the bombing, had been "completely destroyed". Later, suspected militants killed an army major and wounded six others at an army checkpoint in Rafah, security sources said. An Islamist insurgency based in Sinai has killed hundreds of security officers since president Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood was removed from power following mass protests against his rule. Tensions have also been raised across Egypt this week by protests, some of them violent, marking […]

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01/15/2015 Eni SPA will resume exploration offshore Egypt under concession agreements based on production sharing it has signed covering two deepwater blocks offered in Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co.’s 2013 bid round ( OGJ Online, Sept. 25, 2014 ). Eni subsidiary IEOC is operator. The company holds 100% of the North Leil block, covering 5,105 sq km in 2,050-3,000 m of water about 170 km offshore. It holds 50% of the Karawan block, which covers 4,565 sq km in 1,200-2,200 km of water about 107 km offshore. BP PLC holds the remaining interest. The Karawan block is adjacent to the west of the North Leil block and adjacent to the east of the Shorouk block, which Eni acquired last year. Royal Dutch Shell PLC drilled a dry hole on the Karawan block in 2001 and a dry hole on the North Leil block in 2007. Eni has worked in […]

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Italian energy company Eni said it signed an agreement to work in the Western Desert of Egypt. UPI/Shutterstock/ekina MILAN, Italy, Jan. 9 (UPI) — With payments surfacing for its counterparts, Italian energy company Eni said Friday it signed an deal to operate in a license area in Egypt’s Western Desert. Eni said it was strengthening its position in Egypt by signing a concession agreement for work in the Western Desert. The deal follows an international auction held in 2013 by the Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. "This new acquisition adds to the list of exploration successes achieved in the area over the past two years and further strengthen Eni’s position in Egypt, an area of historic and strategic importance for the company," it said in a statement. Eni is one of the main oil producers in the country. Operating there since 1954, the company said it had an equity production […]

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Liquefied natural gas giant BG Group says that, while operations are dwindling, it remains committed to exploring its options in Egypt. (Photo: BG Group) LONDON, Jan. 2 (UPI) — While operations there are fading, British energy company BG Group said Friday it would continue investigating options in Egypt after receiving a debt payment. BG Group said it received $350 million in debt payments from the Egyptian government, reducing its balances to around $920 million. "While the group has been impacted by the reduction of LNG exports from Egypt, the company continues to investigate options for increasing the supply of gas and is working with the government on resolving the outstanding receivable balance," the company said in a statement. A similar payment was disclosed by the company in October. In January 2014, the company said the Egyptian government wasn’t honoring agreements regarding its share of natural gas from Egyptian fields, […]

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CAIRO (Reuters) – An Egyptian judge sentenced 185 Muslim Brotherhood supporters to death on Tuesday over an attack on a police station near Cairo last year in which 12 policemen were killed. The ruling is preliminary and subject to a lengthy appeals process. It also goes to the country’s top religious authority for approval although his opinion is not binding. The sentence comes days after another court dropped charges against Hosni Mubarak over the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his 30-year rule. The attack on the Kerdasa police station took place on Aug. 14, 2013, the day that Egyptian security forces cleared two Brotherhood protest camps in Cairo, killing hundreds of people in one of the bloodiest episodes in Egypt’s modern history. Of those sentenced, 151 are in custody, with the others being tried in absentia, a judicial source said. Egyptian authorities have rounded up […]

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CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian militant organization allied with the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the killing of an American oil worker. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which now refers to itself as the Sinai Province, said on its official Twitter account late Sunday that it killed William Henderson. It published pictures of his passport and two identification cards. It did not say when or how it killed him. The passport said he was a 58-year-old from Texas and his identification cards said he worked for Texas-based energy company Apache Corp. and Qarun Petroleum Co., a joint venture with Egypt. Apache said in August that one of its supervisors had been killed in an apparent carjacking in Egypt’s Western Desert. The company did not identify the man. The Enid News & Eagle in northwestern Oklahoma published an obituary for a man named William Henderson in August, saying he had […]

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CAIRO (AP) — An International Monetary Fund official says that Egypt’s economy has begun to recover after four years of slow activity. The statement from Chris Jarvis late Tuesday followed an IMF delegation visit to Egypt for a long-delayed assessment of the economy. He says that Egyptian authorities "have set appropriate economic objectives." The IMF says it projects Egypt’s growth to reach 3.8 percent in the fiscal year 2014/15, in line with the government’s own stated goals. Egypt’s growth rate has been hovering at around 2 percent since the country’s 2011 revolt. Finance Minister Hany Kadry Dimian has said he hopes the resumption of consultations with the IMF will help restore confidence in the economy. The government aims to attract investment by hosting a three-day international economic conference in March.

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