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The industry of petroleum has
a very important place in the Egypt` s economy. It
represents one of the 4 principals foreign exchange`s
sources, since Egypt is an important oil exporter.
The origins of the Egypt oil
are in 4 principal zones: the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of
Suez, the Eastern Desert and the Western Desert. The oil
from the Persian Gulf is exported through a pipeline of 200
miles.
The Egypt`s first oilfield
was found in 1869 and used for production 41 years later. In
that period, the principal zonal operator was the
Anglo-Egyptian oilfields; the development and the
exploration continued till 1964 when the nationalization
happened.
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The EGPC (Egyptian General Petroleum
Corporation) was formed in 1962, becoming the principal
operator in the joint ventures forming, with companies from
other countries. Some measures regarding the face-lifting of
the Egypt oil sector were promised by the Petroleum Ministry
in 2000. The face-lifting consisted in a industry`s totally
restructure as well as the separation of the EGPC`s
activities from the petrochemicals and natural gas
activities.
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The result of these measures and of the reformation
was the creation of a new Egypt oil industry
structure by ECHEM, EGAS and GANOPE. In the first
months of the 2007, 9 agreements for natural gas and
oil prospecting in the areas of the Eastern and
Western Deserts and of the Suez Gulf were approved
by the SCIEC (Shura Council’s Industrial and Energy
Committee). The investments amount for the
agreements was about $222.65 million, according to
the Petroleum Ministry` s first under – secretary.
One of the most important contracts that were sealed
in the 2007` s first half was the deal between WTR
and GUPCO (Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company). During
the 2 years contract, WTR has to assure the
installation and the materials of cold repairs for
the leak fixations in the zones of Port Said, Ras
Bakr, Gulf of Suez, Dashour and Western Desert,
where the Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company has its own
rights for production together with the partners
EGPC and BP. |
Among the realizations of the
Ministry` s strategies of expanding the natural gas` usages
in all the Egypt`s governorates was the loan agreement
between the AIB (Arab International Bank) and the EGAS
(Egyptian Gas Holding Company) having as goal the financing
of 2 gas supply lines` installation from Shokair to Hurghada
and from Taba to El Sheikh; the loan` s total value was of
LE 512 million ($90 million) and LE 355. The banks who
offered the loan are in number of 8: the National Bank for
Development, the Societe Arabe Internationale de Banque, the
AIB, the Audi Bank, the Egyptian Saudi Finance Bank, the
National Bank of Abu Dhabi, the United Bank of Egypt and the
Piraeus Bank. The project` s principal target is natural gas
supplying of the 6 million housing units in the next 6
years. The total cost of the investment is of LE 30 billion.
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