Continental Focus, International Reach

Four-bank Loan Allows Egypt to Pay Foreign Operators

Monday, October 6, 2014

After receiving a $1.4-billion loan from four banks, Egypt has paid $1.5 billion of its debt to foreign oil and gas firms. The loan, deriving from the National Bank of Egypt, Commercial International Bank, the Arab African Bank, and Qatar National Bank, helped the country reduce its debt owed to foreign oil firms to around $4.9 billion.

“The government aims to reduce the country’s debt to foreign oil and gas companies in order to motivate them to increase their exploration operations to increase oil and gas production in the country and minimize import,” said Sherif Ismail, Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum.

Under the loan terms, Egypt will have four years with a one-year grace period to pay off the loan. The Minister said that by the end of 2014, the country would have paid $2 to $3 billion of its debt to foreign oil and gas companies. However, the companies that will receive payment remain unknown although some believe that includes BP, BG, Apache, and Dana Gas.


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