Egypt’s Petroleum Ministry expects the country’s natural gas production to drop by 3.6 percent to 4.85 bcf/day in FY2017/18 from 5.03 bcf/day in FY2014/15, while demand is expected to rise by 24 percent from 5.98 bcf/day to 7.42 bcf/day over the same period, according to the newspaper Al-Borsa.
The ministry also plans to double natural gas imports from 0.5 bcf/day to 1.0 bcf/day starting FY16/17, which would still imply a shortfall of 1.77 bcf/day in FY17/18, up from 0.65 bcf/day in the current fiscal year.
Meanwhile, 10 local banks will provide a loan worth LE10 billion to the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) for financing part of the company’s debt, the newspaper Almal reported.
The petroleum sector paid a new batch of dues to the foreign partners amounting to $2.1 billion, decreasing total accumulated arrears to $3.1 billion, according to Petroleum Minister Sherif Ismail.
The minister pointed out that the petroleum sector already paid two installments of dues to foreign partners, the first worth $1.5 billion in December 2013 and the second worth $ 1.4 billion in October 2014.
