EGPC prepares to repay $500 - $750M to foreign firms by end of 2017

CAIRO – 19 November 2017: Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) prepares to settle part of the debt due by repaying between $500 million and $750 million to foreign oil and gas companies by the end of 2017, a source from EGPC told Egypt Today on the condition of anonymity.

EGPC managed to repay a $2.2 billion tranche of the debt to its foreign partners last June reducing the total due at $2.3 billion.

Egypt was facing a notable lack in foreign currency since the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, enforcing it to delay payments to oil and gas firms. In 2013, the total debt amounted to $6.3 billion.

However, the country’s economy is on the track of recovery after the government kicked off a successful program of economic reform, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Petroleum Minister Tarek El-Molla revealed last week during his speech in a press conference that his ministry was targeting decreasing the debt bill before the end of 2017.

Egypt has a string of international pioneering companies working in the oil and gas sector such as British Petroleum (BP) Egypt, Apache Egypt Companies and Enni Shell.
The foreign oil and gas companies in Egypt have strongly contributed in relieving the gas shortage crisis facing the country. Italian Enni’s exploration at Zohr field that is expect to produce 500 million cubic feet per day by the end of 2017.

Egypt’s Petroleum Minister Tarek El-Molla announced in October from Moscow during the 19th ministerial meeting of the exporting gas countries that Egypt will stop importing gas from abroad by the end of 2018.