Category: Egypt

Egyptian media said Tuesday militants in the Sinai Peninsula bombed a natural gas pipeline in a regional industrial zone, though no injuries were reported. Ahram Online reported unknown assailants blew up the pipeline that supplies regional industries in the city of Arish. The blast was described as powerful, though no other details were provided. Militants in the restive peninsula have targeted the region’s gas infrastructure repeatedly since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. The latest attack follows a push by the Egyptian government to address a lingering gas shortage. The Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum expects domestic gas production will increase 1.7 percent this year, though consumption is expected to increase by 12.5 percent. More than a dozen new natural gas wells are expected to be tied into the national grid this year in an effort to increased gas production. A country report from […]

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Abdel Fattah al-Sisi , the army chief acclaimed by Egyptians as saving them from the self-destructively partisan and secretive rule of former president Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood government in last July’s coup, is coasting towards his coronation in presidential elections next week. Yet, for all the adulation heaped on him, his admirers have had little chance to find out who exactly their putative saviour is and what he stands for – until now. It is not that the former military intelligence chief has been out among his 85m people pressing the flesh. He has not been out campaigning at all. He receives delegations from around the country and grants interviews to selected media outlets, from the penumbra of a well-protected hotel owned by the army, after revealing there have already been two attempts on his life. He emits exhortations, vague pledges and the occasional threatening aside, rather […]

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British energy company BP aims to invest about $1.5 billion in the Egyptian oil and gas sector, the Egyptian government said. State-run media in Egypt said Monday representatives from BP met Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab and Oil Minister Sherif Ismal in Cairo to discuss work in the Egyptian energy sector. The government said the delegation welcomed Egyptian efforts to overcome "obstacles facing companies working on the Egyptian market." BP’s counterpart, BG Group, expressed concern about its future operations in Egypt, citing continued diversions of natural gas to the domestic market. No cargoes of liquefied natural gas left Egypt during the first quarter of 2014 and the company said it produced 66,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in Egypt, down 35 percent from fourth quarter 2013. The Egyptian government said BP is investing $1.5 billion in the oil and gas sector during the second half […]

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We’ve missed you,” Egypt’s ministry of tourism says in its new advertising campaign , a plaintive plea for summer visitors from wealthy countries in the Persian Gulf. That is putting it mildly. For three years now, political turmoil has scared many travelers away from Egypt, leaving millions of people whose livelihoods depend on visitors desperate for any sign of an end to the most sustained tourism crisis anyone here can recall. At Cosmos , a 37-year-old tour company in Cairo that used to serve up to 30,000 customers a year, Khaled M. Ismail, the company’s director of operations, said he had not booked a single visitor since May 2013. The company’s once-hectic headquarters are deserted most of the time: Employees come in only once a week, to pay the bills. “We’re not expecting any business until 2015,” Mr. Ismail said, sitting alone in his office one recent […]

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Suicide bombers targeting a security checkpoint and a civilian bus killed at least two people in Egypt’s southern Sinai region on Friday, while in the capital, a police officer was killed in an explosion that struck a traffic post, the authorities said. The spate of attacks came just weeks before Egypt is to hold a presidential election, a milestone officials have asserted will help stabilize the country. The Sinai attacks occurred just after dawn in El Tor, the provincial capital, about 70 miles from the popular tourist resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh, the authorities said. One of the bombers approached a military checkpoint, detonating an explosive that killed two officers and the bomber. In the attack on the bus, the driver told state media that the bomber stood on the road that leads to Sharm el-Sheikh, holding what appeared to be a red icebox that presumably contained the […]

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A growing energy shortage that helped inflame the protests against President Mohamed Morsi before his ouster last year is returning to vex Egypt’s new military-led government. Festering complaints by international energy companies that Egypt has failed to pay them for pumping its petroleum or to allow them promised gas to export spilled into the open on Thursday. BG, the British company that is one of the country’s biggest gas producers, warned in a statement that its Egyptian liquefied natural gas business “is increasingly at risk” without “concerted action from the Egyptian government.” A joint venture partly owned by the Italian oil giant Eni cited similar reasons more than a year ago when it closed the only other Egyptian plant making liquefied gas, which can be shipped as well as transported by a pipeline. BG’s statement was a blunt reminder of the challenges still facing the new government, […]

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Future operations in the natural gas sector in Egypt are at risk because of poor reservoir performance and domestic offtake, BG Group said Thursday. BG Group announced its first quarter operations were hurt by issues with its liquefied natural gas business in Egypt. "Group production volumes for the first quarter were consistent with our anticipated seasonal phasing, although production entitlement from Egypt was lower than expected as domestic offtake remains well above contractual commitments and reservoir performance deteriorates," interim Executive Chairman Andrew Gould said in a statement . BG Group said that no cargoes of LNG left Egypt during the first quarter and profits from that sector of its operations were down 7 percent compared with the previous quarter. In terms of production, the company said it produced 66,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in Egypt, down 35 percent from fourth quarter 2013. […]

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Security officials say two suicide bombers have struck in Egypt’s restive Sinai Peninsula, killing one soldier and wounding nine people. The officials say the attacks happened early on Friday in the region of el-Tor. In the first attack, the bomber targeted an army checkpoint. One soldier died and five were wounded in the explosion. The second bomber stepped out on a road and blew himself up in front of a bus. Four passengers were wounded from that explosion. The officials say body parts of the bombers littered the sites of the attacks. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Insurgent attacks in Sinai have surged since the military’s ouster last July of Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

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BG Group PLC on Thursday reported an 8% fall in first-quarter net profit because of ongoing issues in Egypt, where the company’s output fell and gas that would have been exported has been diverted to the domestic market. BG said volumes from Egyptian LNG were severely restricted with no cargoes lifted by the company in the first quarter. The U.K.’s third-largest natural gas producer posted a net profit of $1.11 billion for the three months ended March 31, compared with a profit of $1.21 billion for the first quarter of 2014. "As a result of the challenges in Egypt, the group’s 2014 production is now expected to be at the lower end of the guidance range," said interim Chief Executive Andrew Gould. Mr. Gould took the […]

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BG Group PLC on Thursday reported an 8% fall in first-quarter net profit because of ongoing issues in Egypt, where the company’s output fell and gas that would have been exported has been diverted to the domestic market. BG said volumes from Egyptian LNG were severely restricted with no cargoes lifted by the company in the first quarter. The U.K.’s third-largest natural gas producer posted a net profit of $1.11 billion for the three months ended March 31, compared with a profit of $1.21 billion for the first quarter of 2014. "As a result of the challenges in Egypt, the group’s 2014 production is now expected to be at the lower end of the guidance range," said interim Chief Executive Andrew Gould. Mr. Gould took the […]

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Senator Patrick J. Leahy, chairman of the Senate subcommittee that oversees foreign aid, said Tuesday that he would not support additional military aid to Egypt in the wake of mass death sentences handed out by Egyptian courts this week, adding significant pressure on the Obama administration to shift course. For months, Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, has led a lonely effort to sever American support to one of its most stalwart allies in the Middle East after the military’s overthrow of Egypt’s elected Islamist government. That push appears to be gaining steam. “I’m not prepared to sign off on the delivery of additional aid for the Egyptian military,” Mr. Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, said on the Senate floor. “I’m not prepared to do that until we see convincing evidence the government is committed to the rule of law.” On Monday, an Egyptian court sentenced the top […]

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An Egyptian court handed down a death sentence on the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and 682 supporters, intensifying a crackdown on the movement that could trigger protests and political violence ahead of an election next month. A death penalty for Mohamed Badie, the Brotherhood’s general guide, will infuriate members of the Brotherhood which has been the target of raids, arrests and bans since President Mohamed Mursi was forced from power by the military in July. The movement says it is committed to peaceful activism. But some Brotherhood members fear pressure from security forces and the courts could drive some young members to violence against the movement’s old enemy the Egyptian state. In a separate case, the court handed down a final capital punishment ruling for 37 others. The 37 death sentences were part of a final judgment on 529 Muslim Brotherhood supporters who were […]

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An Islamic militant group in Egypt has claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed a senior police officer the day before. It says the attack was in retaliation for the killings and arrests by government forces of supporters of the country’s ousted Islamist president. Thursday’s statement by Ajnad Misr, or "Egypt’s Soldiers," a group which first appeared in January, was posted on its Facebook page. It carried photographs of the slain officer, Brig. Gen. Ahmed Zaki, a commander in the riot police, showing him riding in a blue pick-up truck. The group claimed Zaki used a truck with no police insignia as a "disguise" for fear of being targeted. Attacks against Egyptian forces have escalated since the military last summer removed Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

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Egyptian security officials say a senior police officer has died after an explosive device placed under his car went off in a western Cairo suburb. The officials say Brig. Gen. Ahmed Zaki was heading to work from his home in 6th of October suburb when the bomb detonated on Wednesday morning. The officials say the explosion critically wounded Zaki and he later died in the hospital. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media. Attacks against Egyptian police and military have stepped up as militant groups wage an increasingly violent campaign following the ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. Since Morsi was removed by the military last July, more than 1,300 protesters, mostly pro-Morsi supporters, and over 450 troops have been killed.

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Following the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Cabinet Spokesman Ambassador Hossam el-Qawish said that the subsidy system will be restructured in a way that does not affect the limited income brackets. He further urged the citizens to rationalize consumption in electricity He asserted that there are no rises in prices of electricity or diesel, adding that next summer would not witness a lot of blackouts. He pointed out that there would specific times for blackouts until a radical solution to the electricity crisis is reached. Copyright © 2014 Egypt State Information Service. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media ( allAfrica.com ). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. AllAfrica publishes around 2,000 reports a day from more than 130 news organizations and over 200 other institutions and individuals , representing a […]

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Following the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Cabinet Spokesman Ambassador Hossam el-Qawish said that the subsidy system will be restructured in a way that does not affect the limited income brackets. He further urged the citizens to rationalize consumption in electricity He asserted that there are no rises in prices of electricity or diesel, adding that next summer would not witness a lot of blackouts. He pointed out that there would specific times for blackouts until a radical solution to the electricity crisis is reached. Copyright © 2014 Egypt State Information Service. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media ( allAfrica.com ). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. AllAfrica publishes around 2,000 reports a day from more than 130 news organizations and over 200 other institutions and individuals , representing a […]

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Egyptians look at a row of portraits of deputy prime minister Abdel-Fattah al-Seesi supporting him to run for presidency in the upcoming elections, in Alexandria. Another evening, another power cut at Raouf Fayez’s jewelry store in Cairo’s sprawling Shoubra neighborhood. Flanked by darkened shops, his window display is empty of the gold ornaments that Fayez hasn’t felt safe showcasing since the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak . Overlooking the scene from a poster on a neighbor’s balcony is the man who Fayez hopes can finally make it all better: Abdel-Fattah al-Seesi, who shed his military uniform last week […]

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; Fuel subsidies in Egypt account for 22 percent of the state’s annual budget, taking funds away from other sectors like health and education. The government believes an ambitious five-year scheme, starting with a fuel smartcard roll-out, will reduce and rationalize fuel consumption, circumvent widespread corruption and phase out fuel subsidies. Estimates for fuel subsidies for this year amount to the equivalent of US$20.1 billion. "We pay for fuel subsidies about seven times more than what we spend on health and three times more than on education," said Haithem Trabeek, a senior strategic and business planning manager with E-Finance, a company owned by the Ministry of Finance and selected by the government to run a new smartcard system that is part of a plan to reform fuel subsidy payments. The cards are initially being used to monitor the distribution of subsidised fuel to help identify fraud and corruption […]

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; Fuel subsidies in Egypt account for 22 percent of the state’s annual budget, taking funds away from other sectors like health and education. The government believes an ambitious five-year scheme, starting with a fuel smartcard roll-out, will reduce and rationalize fuel consumption, circumvent widespread corruption and phase out fuel subsidies. Estimates for fuel subsidies for this year amount to the equivalent of US$20.1 billion. "We pay for fuel subsidies about seven times more than what we spend on health and three times more than on education," said Haithem Trabeek, a senior strategic and business planning manager with E-Finance, a company owned by the Ministry of Finance and selected by the government to run a new smartcard system that is part of a plan to reform fuel subsidy payments. The cards are initially being used to monitor the distribution of subsidised fuel to help identify fraud and corruption […]

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Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, the defense minister and military officer  who led last summer’s takeover  of the elected government in Egypt, formally announced on Wednesday that he was resigning from the army and running for president as he moved to consolidate his power. “It is true this is my last day in uniform but I will fight every day for Egypt free of fear and terror,” Mr. Sisi said, alluding to the military-led government’s continuing battles against the Islamist militants and street protesters. “I repeat what I have said before: ‘We’d rather die before Egyptians are terrorized.’” Mr. Sisi, who held the rank of field marshal, is almost universally expected to win the election and thus formalize  the de facto power he currently holds. He has been the government’s pre-eminent decision maker  since he led the ouster of Egypt’s first freely elected leader, President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim […]

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; A crowd gathered outside a courthouse in the town of Matay erupted in wailing and rage on Monday when a judge sentenced 529 defendants to death in just the second session of their trial, convicting them of murdering a police officer in anger at the ouster of the Islamist president. Here in the provincial capital just a few miles away, schools shut down early, and many stayed indoors fearing a riot, residents said. But the crowds went home, and soon the streets were quiet. After nine months of escalating repression that culminated in the extraordinary verdict, the military-led government that removed President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood appears to have finally cowed his supporters into near-silence here in […]

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An Egyptian court sentenced 529 members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood to death on Monday on charges including murder, a defense lawyer said, in a sharp escalation of a crackdown on the movement. Most were arrested during clashes which erupted in the southern province of Minya after the forced dispersal of two Muslim Brotherhood protest camps in Cairo on August 14. Political turmoil has deepened in Egypt since the army overthrew President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood last July. Security forces have killed hundreds of Brotherhood members in the street, and arrested thousands of others. "The court has decided to sentence to death 529 defendants, and 16 were acquitted," lawyer Ahmed al-Sharif told Reuters. The ruling can be appealed. The charges against the group, on trial in Minya since Saturday, include violence, inciting murder, storming a police station, attacking persons and damaging public and private […]

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Islamist militants killed an Egyptian brigadier general and a colonel in an early-morning gun battle in the Nile Delta province of Qalyubeya, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday. The killings followed the shooting deaths of six military conscripts over the weekend on the streets of Cairo, in an escalation of attacks on security forces after a lull in the violence over the past month. Islamist extremists have killed hundreds of military service members and police officers in retaliation for the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood last summer. Militants stunned Egypt in late January with a succession of high-profile attacks: a deadly car bombing at the gates of the Egyptian security headquarters in Cairo, the assassination of a senior Interior Ministry official on the streets of the capital, and the shooting down of a military helicopter in northern Sinai. In February, terrorists blew up a […]

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CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s state news agency says gunmen have attacked a checkpoint manned by the military police in a suburb north of Cairo, killing five soldiers. Major General Mahmoud Yousri, chief of security of Qalubiya province, told MENA that the attackers stormed the checkpoint early Saturday in Shubra al-Kheima. Yousri said explosive disposal experts managed to defuse two bombs left behind by the attackers. Egypt has seen a spike in attacks on police and the military since the toppling of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last year. Many of the deadliest attacks have been claimed by Sinai-based militants.

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Egyptian security officials say gunmen have opened fire on an army bus in Cairo, killing one officer and wounding three soldiers. The officials say the bus, which belongs to the army’s Military Police, was driving through the capital’s Amiriyah district when it was targeted on Thursday morning. The officials did not say who was responsible for the attack, which bore the hallmarks of Islamic militants. In the eight months since the ouster of Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, militants have targeted the military and police forces in Cairo and elsewhere in the country, often using motorbikes. Militants also are waging a full-fledged insurgency in the strategic Sinai Peninsula. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

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Irving, Tex., independent IPR Inc. has made a discovery in its first drilled well, SWGEZ-5, in its Southwest Gebel El-Zeit concession in the Gulf of Suez offshore Egypt. IPR operates the block, which was acquired from Devon Energy International in 2007. IPR constructed a modern 3-slot platform, 9.5-km, 8.5-in. pipeline from platform to shore, and state-of-the art surface facilities to receive future deliveries. SWGEZ-5 was drilled using Advanced Energy Systems’ ADM-IV jack up rig under the supervision of IPR’s operational teams and its joint venture operating company, PetroHurghada. The well took 43 days to drill, test, and complete to a total depth of 8,020 ft in the basement of the Precambrian age. The well encountered a total of 107 ft of net hydrocarbon pay in Late Cretaceous age Nubia and Matulla formations, as targeted prolific producers in the Gulf of Suez. SWGEZ-5 tested naturally flowing oil and gas at […]

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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. The crisis has left BG Group, a major investor which relies on Egypt for almost a fifth of its output, unable to meet export commitments. The British firm has said it […]

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Emirati energy company Dana Gas said it was overhauling its el-Wastani natural gas plant in Egypt to increase its production by 25 percent. The company said it was shutting down the facility for two weeks to upgrade capacity by 40 million cubic feet per day to 200 million cubic feet. Mark Fenton, general manager for Dana’s subsidiary in Egypt, said the maintenance was planned as soon as his company received permission to bring new fields in the country into commercial production. "It is a necessary work and the tie-in of the new wells along with the maintenance program ensures that the plant is also fully upgraded prior to new wells coming on stream during the year," he said in a statement published Sunday. Dana announced last week it signed agreements with the Egyptian government to explore for natural resources in eastern […]

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Egypt’s government has resigned, the prime minister said on Monday, a step likely to pave the way for army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to declare his candidacy for president of a strategic U.S. ally gripped by political strife. "(The government) made every effort to get Egypt out of the narrow tunnel in terms of security, economic pressures and political confusion," Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi said in a live nationwide speech. Beblawi, who was tasked by interim President Adly Mansour with running the government’s affairs until the election, did not give a clear reason for the decision. For Sisi to run for president, he would first need to quit as defense minister. "This (government resignation) was done as a step that was needed ahead of Sisi’s announcement that he will run for president," an Egyptian official told Reuters. He said the cabinet resigned en masse […]

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An Egyptian militant group that has carried out months of deadly assaults on the police and the military has claimed responsibility for the bombing of a tourist bus that killed four people in the Sinai Peninsula on Sunday. The assertion by the group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, signaled an ominous turn in a battle militants have waged against the government since the military ouster of President Mohamed Morsi in July. The bombing, in the Sinai town of Taba, was the first attack against tourists in years. Three South Korean citizens and an Egyptian bus driver were killed. In a statement posted on jihadist websites late Monday, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis said that the bombing was part of an “economic war against this regime of traitors.” It said that one of the group’s “heroes” had carried out the attack, but did not say how. Egyptian officials have said a suicide […]

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“This is more of a challenge to the government and the state’s authority than there ever was before,” said Kamal Habib, a founding member of Islamic ­Jihad, a group that was at the forefront of a similar revolt in Egypt in the 1990s but that later renounced violence. He noted that today’s insurgents are using heavier weapons, such as missiles and bombs. The bus blew up Sunday afternoon when it was parked just 200 yards from the Israeli border in the resort town of Taba, sending black plumes of smoke into the sky, according to images on Egyptian state television. There was no immediate assertion of responsibility for the attack, which killed two South Korean tourists and the Egyptian bus driver, according to the Health Ministry. It had earlier reported that three tourists were killed. At least 15 South Koreans were wounded. But Habib said the blast indicates that […]

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The Egyptian government said it signed oil and natural gas exploration deals with Middle East and European companies on behalf of a national holding company. Egyptian Oil Minister Sherif Ismail signed deals with Emirati energy company Dana Gas, Italy’s Edison and Irish exploration and production company Petroceltic, the Egyptian news website Ahram Online reported Thursday. The deals, signed on behalf of Egypt’s National Natural Gas Holding Co., are expected to bring in $265 million in new investments to the Egyptian energy sector. Exploration is expected in the Mediterranean Sea, the Nile Delta and the Gulf of Suez, the report said. No statement was made from Dana, Edison or Petroceltic on the deals. Eight other oil and gas exploration deals were signed in January valued at $2.1 billion. Apache Corp., which this week singled out a partnership agreement in Egypt with China Petrochemical Corp. as […]

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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday wished Egypt’s military chief victory in the nation’s presidential vote as Moscow sought to expand its military and other ties with a key U.S. ally in the Middle East. Putin said at the start of his meeting with Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi that he’s aware of his intention to seek the presidency. "I know that you have made a decision to run for president," Putin said, according to Russian news reports. "That’s a very responsible decision: to undertake such a mission for the fate of the Egyptian people. On my own part, and on behalf of the Russian people I wish you success." El-Sissi, who rose to prominence after the ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last July, is popular among a large segment of Egyptians and is widely expected to announce a candidacy for presidential elections that […]

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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday wished Egypt’s military chief victory in the nation’s presidential vote as Moscow sought to expand its military and other ties with a key U.S. ally in the Middle East. Putin said at the start of his meeting with Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi that he’s aware of his intention to seek the presidency. "I know that you have made a decision to run for president," Putin said, according to Russian news reports. "That’s a very responsible decision: to undertake such a mission for the fate of the Egyptian people. On my own part, and on behalf of the Russian people I wish you success." El-Sissi, who rose to prominence after the ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last July, is popular among a large segment of Egyptians and is widely expected to announce a candidacy for presidential elections that […]

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Egyptians are suffering through a rare spate of winter power outages, an indication they could sweat through a hot summer when soaring temperatures are likely to bring nationwide blackouts, experts say. Summer blackouts would put Egypt’s next leader, set to be elected in the coming months, in a difficult position. In July, frequent electricity cuts, long gas lines and political tensions helped to stoke massive antigovernment protests that prompted the military to oust Mohammed Morsi, the country’s first freely elected president. Some experts attribute shortages to a lack of foreign investment to develop Egypt’s natural-gas resources, which meet most of the country’s energy needs. Mohamed Shoeib, managing director of the energy division at Egypt’s Citadel Capital and former head of the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co., said he expected the power cuts this summer to be far worse than those last summer. "The expectation for next summer is the […]

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Egyptian security officials say suspected al-Qaida-inspired militants have blown up a natural gas pipeline in the restive Sinai Peninsula. The officials say the explosion took place early Tuesday in a desert area south of el-Arish, the provincial capital of North Sinai. The pipeline carries natural gas to Jordan and feeds heavy industry factories in central Sinai. The officials say pipeline technicians were forced to shut the flow of gas in order to get the fire under control. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to media. There have been scores of attacks on the pipeline since the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak and the security vacuum that ensued. A Sinai-based militant group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, has claimed responsibility for several such bombings. © 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, […]

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In just the last two weeks, Islamist militants have detonated a car bomb at the gates of the capital’s security headquarters, gunned down a senior Interior Ministry official in broad daylight and shot down a military helicopter over Sinai with a portable surface-to-air missile. But perhaps most alarming to officials in Cairo and Washington are the signs that the swift increase in the scale and effectiveness of the attacks may come from a new influx of fighters: Egyptians returning from jihad abroad to join a campaign of terrorism against the military-backed government. “Egypt is again an open front for jihad,” said Brian Fishman, a researcher in counterterrorism at the New America Foundation in Washington. “The world is being […]

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Egypt’s oil and gas resources provide "continued opportunity for profitable investment," said Thomas Maher of Apache Corp. The U.S. company has 27 drilling rigs and 5 million acres targeted for exploration in Egypt’s Western Desert. "Apache sees continued opportunity for profitable investment developing Egypt’s oil and gas resources," Maher, a company general manager for Egypt, said in a statement Thursday. The company, which has headquarters in Texas, said some of its latest operations are already producing, or have discovered, oil and natural gas. Last year, Apache drilled more than 250 wells in the region. For the third quarter, the last full quarter for which data are available, gross production averaged 346,530 barrels of oil equivalent per day,Apache said. British energy company BG Group said Monday it declared force majeure in Egypt, meaning it’s unable to meet certain contractual obligations because of circumstances beyond its […]

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When Egypt’s first freely elected president, Mohamed Morsi, named Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi defense minister, the officer pledged to keep the military out of politics and make way for civilian democracy. A year later, General Sisi ousted Mr. Morsi, insisting the military was answering the people’s call to secure “their revolution.” Just three weeks later, he once again said he was turning to the people when he urged them to take to the streets to give him a personal “mandate” to crush Mr. Morsi’s base of support in the Muslim Brotherhood. Then on Monday, Field Marshal Sisi — he added the title the same day — took the first formal step to become Egypt’s next president, insisting he was yielding once again to “the free choice of the masses” and “the call of duty.” With that, […]

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British energy company BG Group said Monday ongoing problems in Egypt were in part responsible for its decline in natural gas volumes. BG Group said Monday it declared force majeure in Egypt, meaning it’s unable to meet certain contractual obligations because of circumstances beyond its control. "We have elected to issue force majeure notices in Egypt reflecting the ongoing diversions of gas volumes to the domestic market," BG Group Chief Executive Officer Chris Finlayson said in a statement. The company said its financial performance was impacted by the "difficult operating environment in Egypt," as well as lower gas prices in the United States. It added the interim Egyptian government hasn’t honored agreements on the company’s share of natural gas from Egyptian fields, saying diversions into the domestic market during the fourth quarter of 2013 were higher than expected. The company said its 2014 production […]

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BG Group PLC (BG.LN) Monday provided guidance for 2013 earnings and said that it has issued force majeure notices under its LNG agreements in Egypt due to diversions of gas volumes to the domestic market in excess of the existing arrangements The natural gas company expects to report full year 2013 production volume of 633,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, or kboed, in line with its previous guidance. The company said that 2013 business performance earnings, or earnings before disposals, impairments and certain other items, is expected to be flat at $4.4 billion, or 130 cents per share. Total results earnings, after impairments, is expected to be $2.2 billion, or 65 cents per share. The Berkshire, U.K., headquartered company expects to record total non-cash, post-tax impairments of $2.4 billion in 2013. BG Group also said that 2014 production volumes are expected in the range of 590 kboed and […]

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Islamist militants shot down an Egyptian military helicopter in the Sinai Peninsula with a surface-to-air missile over the weekend, raising new alarms about the terrorist insurgency that developed there in response to the military takeover last summer. The attack — described by witnesses, documented in a video released by the militants, and confirmed by three people briefed on the Egyptian government’s investigation — validated longstanding fears that such weapons would spill into Egypt and beyond after the Libyan civil war tore open Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s fearsome arsenals. Known as manpads, for man-portable air defense systems, the missiles can bring down commercial airliners if they are flying at low altitude, as during […]

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After the first explosion in Cairo on Friday, supporters of Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi gathered outside Abdeen Palace. Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters CAIRO — The capital was empty and anxious Saturday morning on the third anniversary of the Egyptian uprising as the residents braced for rival demonstrations for and against the current military-backed government amid renewed fears of violence. Families stayed close to home and some public facilities closed, reeling in the aftermath of four bombings on Friday that killed six people and terrified the city. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, a Sinai-based militant Islamist group that has raised the banner of armed insurgency against the new government, appeared to claim responsibility for the four bombings, including a powerful car bomb in front of a security headquarters and three smaller attacks on police. By 8 a.m. Saturday morning, another small bomb had exploded near a police training facility but officials said it […]

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A suicide car bomber blew himself up in the parking lot of a top security compound in central Cairo on Friday, killing at least four people in one of the most high-profile attacks on the state in months, security sources said. The early morning explosion damaged the Cairo Security Directorate, which includes police and state security, and sent smoke rising over the capital, raising concerns that an Islamist insurgency is gathering pace. Hours after the attack, a crude explosive device killed one policeman and wounded nine others in another Cairo neighborhood, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Security sources said a person driving past security vehicles threw a hand grenade in their direction. The dead from the first blast included three policemen, security sources said. State television quoted the Cairo governor as saying 50 people were wounded. Reuters witnesses heard gunfire immediately after the blast, […]

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