By Summer Said
Egypt plans to repay its $3.1 billion debt to international
energy companies operating in the country by mid-2016, almost a
year later than initially planned, the country's oil minister
said.
"We have already reduced the debt from $6.3 billion at the start
of 2013 to $3.1 billion at the end of last year," Oil Minister
Sherif Ismail told The Wall Street Journal in an interview. "We
have no certain timetable for the next payments but we plan to pay
back the entire amount by mid next year."
Since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and the
turmoil that ensued, Egypt has struggled to pay foreign energy
companies that provide oil and gas for its domestic market,
including: BP PLC (BP), Apache Corp. (APA), BG Group (BG.LN) and
Dana Gas PJSC (DANA.AD), an energy company based in the United Arab
Emirates.
Egyptian officials hope the repayment pledge encourages energy
companies to continue injecting investments in research,
exploration and development activities into the country.
The country has been facing a slowdown in oil and gas
exploration activities over the past few years because of
continuing civil unrest since Mr. Mubarak was overthrown. It has
been paying hefty premiums for its crude supplies because of the
weaker Egyptian pound.
In November, Egyptian officials said the country planned to
repay all debt owed to foreign oil and gas companies within six
months, a deadline that was approaching before Tuesday's
announcement pushing the date back to 2016.
Write to Summer Said at Summer.Said@wsj.com
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