By Ebi Kesiena
Global Oil Company, BP, has disclosed plans to invest $3.5 billion in Egypt along with its partners over the next three years, as the UK energy company seeks to expand in the country.
The announcement came after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi met with BP’s Chief Executive Bernard Looney on Monday.
In a joint statement from the Egyptian Presidency and BP, the investments will go towards exploration, production and local development.
While a portion of BP’s investment will go towards renewable energy projects, with green hydrogen production highlighted as the most important project.
The Presidency added that BP’s investment portfolio in Egypt, which dates back 60 years, is described as pivotall to the country’s energy sector.
Also, BP noted that it has invested more than $35 billion in the country during its over 60years in Egypt. BP currently operates numerous energy projects in collaboration with Egyptian companies, both state-owned and private.
Together with its partners, BP currently produces around 60 per cent of Egypt’s gas through a joint venture with the Pharaonic Petroleum Company and Petrobel in the East Nile Delta as well as through its operated West Nile Delta (WND) gas development.
The WND project, its oldest in the country, includes five gasfields that produce 1 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas. The development is worth $9 billion, as per BP’s Egypt country profile.
The company also operates several other gasfields in Egypt. BP is also a 33 per cent shareholder of United Gas Derivatives Company, a natural gas liquids operation that extracts liquefied petroleum gas and propane in partnership with Eni/IEOC and Gasco, the Egyptian midstream gas distribution company.
