Egypt Owes Oil Companies USD6bn

Egypt owes foreign oil partners $6 billion, prime minister Hazem Al-Beblawi told the local media last week.

The cabinet aims to reschedule the debt to these companies in a way that ties rapid repayments to foreign partners with increasing the latter’s exploration and production activities in the country.

Al-Beblawi said he expected investments of $15 billion from these companies over a two-year period.

Finance Minister Ahmed Galal told Reuters that “what is on the table is the rescheduling of these debts in a way that gives the companies an amount of liquidity that allows them to invest and make discoveries to benefit production.”

Galal said he had been meeting regularly with the oil minister and the governor of the Central Bank to work out where the money would come from and tie the payments to a long-term programme to encourage alternative energy and a strategy to control subsidies.

Source :  Al Ahram Weekly