The Ministry of Petroleum vowed to allow British Gas Group (BG), now a subsidiary of Shell, to export liquefied gas through the infrastructure of the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Petroleum Operations (ADCO).
The decision comes after BG informed Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) that work on the 9B phase of the Borollos field would resume if the company was allowed to export 100 to 150 cubic feet per day and increase the price of gas. BG halted work and withdrew its oil drill from the field in February due to the Egyptian’s government’s failure to pay the money due to the company.
The ministry informed BG that the payment of their dues is subject to the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) decision to allocate the required funds. The ministry asserted that the price of gas will not exceed $5.88 per million thermal units.
The total production of the Borollos and Rosetta gas fields is estimated at 700m cubic feet of gas per day. The fields produced 850m cubic feet during 2015.
He explained that the company is losing 20m cubic feet of gas of its monthly production due to a lack of compensatory wells. He added that the decline in the rate will continue until the end of 2017.
The official pointed out that the company has not spent any money from the $1.2bn it was allocated in investment for the 9B phase.
The ADCO receives 1.13bn cubic feet of gas per day.
The Egyptian government owes BG approximately $1bn. The ministry has not scheduled a payment as it claims it has not received the requisite information from the CBE regarding the allocation of funds.
