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Economic Conference Ends in Billions of Investments for Egypt

Monday, March 16, 2015

A significant amount of investment for Egypt resulted from the recently held Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC), most notably in its somewhat stagnant oil and gas sector.

According to the government two deals, worth a total of $17 billion, were inked on March 14.  The investments are much needed as the country tries to draw more and more firms into exploration in hopes of boosting both oil and gas production. Currently natural gas production from Egypt is being funneled into domestic consumption which puts a severe crimp in export revenues for the resource.

Minister of Petroleum Sherif Ismail signed a deal with BP Egypt for the West Nile Delta Concession, which has been in the news over the past couple of weeks, given the amount of investment BP and its partner DEA will be required to inject into it. The project will require a whopping $12 billion to develop.

The day also witnessed a deal between ENI and Egypt being signed that is worth about $5 billion. The deal has ENI developing gas fields in the Mediterranean, the Western Desert, the Nile Delta, and Sinai. “The agreement would be finalized within the coming two months,” Ismail told Youm7 after signing the deal.

Another deal worth $4 billion between Egypt’s Petroleum Ministry and BG Egypt was signed on the third day of the EEDC, March 15.

In addition to the investment deals signed with E&P firms Egypt’s Ministry of International Cooperation signed an agreement with the Islamic Bank of Development to provide $200 million for financing a petrol production unit in Upper Egypt’s Asyut governorate to meet fuel demand in Upper Egypt.

On the Renewables end, Masdar, ACWA Power, and the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) signed a MoU that will have the three potentially developing up to 4 GW of renewable and natural gas power generation projects in Egypt. An another complementary deal will see GE invest in a new $200 million multimodal manufacturing, engineering, services and training center in Egypt which will focus on various industries including power generation, renewables, water, oil & gas, aviation and rail transportation.


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