By Mohamed Ahmed
The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) entrusted ADIB Capital to arrange a loan of more than $100m to finance imported petroleum shipments.
The deal coincides with the EGPC’s attempts to pay part of its dues to foreign oil companies, according to sources in ADIB Capital, who requested anonymity.
According to the sources’ statements to Daily News Egypt, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), the major shareholder of the company, will be among the major participants that will arrange the loan, especially as the company and the bank have arranged loans for oil companies, last year.
The debts accumulated by the government to foreign partners in the petrol sector amount to about $3.5bn. EGPC is resorting to the banking sector to pay a new segment of the dues, after the government paid two instalments. The first instalment was $1.5bn in December, 2013, while the second was $1.4bn last October.
The sources said that ADIB Capital targets expanding in loan agreements directed to the petrol sector, in light of their need for large financial resources, whether to import petroleum products or to pump investments in that vital sector. The oil and gas sector is expected to experience more activity following the discovery of the Shorouk franchise in the deep water of the Mediterranean.
