Foreign oil companies in Egypt intend to invest $1.6 billion during the current fiscal year to boost gas production in the Arab country, according to a Saudi news report.

The planned investments by Shell and other foreign oil firms will boost Egypt’s gas output by 510 million cubic feet per day, Asharq Business said, quoting unnamed Egyptian government officials.

Investments will cover both offshore and onshore sites, mainly Burullus and North Sinai fields, the report noted.

Earlier, the report revealed that Egypt has $500 million in arrears to foreign companies to encourage them to intensify activities to boost gas production.

Egypt gas output has dipped to around four billion cubic feet per day at present from nearly 6.6 billion cubic feet a few years ago.

(Writing by N Saeed; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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