The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC)’s dues owed to the electricity sector increased to EGP 100bn last month.
A governmental source told Daily News Egypt that the dues are rising, as the EGPC does not pay for the fuel fed to power plants and only pays about EGP 800m every month out of a monthly total due of EGP 5bn.
He added that the Ministry of Finance bears part of the total indebtedness, as a result of the gap in fuel subsidies until they are lifted completely in 2021.
The source explained that officials of the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) agreed with the EGPC that it would pay EGP 2bn every month starting from July, in conjunction with the increase in electricity prices to avoid increased debts.
The government has formed a committee to resolve the financial issues between the various ministries, most prominently, the Ministries of Petroleum and Electricity. It is working to schedule outstanding dues and collect monthly dues to avoid increases in the debts.
Egypt produces about 5.7bn cubic feet of gas daily. About 300m cubic feet is used daily in fields for extraction equipment. The remaining amounts are directed to the local market. In addition, electricity generation plants acquire 60% of the total amounts of gas directed towards the local market.
The Ministry of Petroleum aims to continue the work of drilling and developing wells in the Mediterranean, to take the daily production rate of natural gas to 6bn cubic feet, gradually increasing this amount by the end of 2018/2019 to 7bn cubic feet of gas daily after continuing the projects of the Zohr, Atoll, and West Nile Delta fields.
