At his 3 September meeting with Egypt’s new President Muhammad Mursi BP CEO Bob Dudley pledged that his firm would spend $11bn on its flagship offshore West Nile Delta project. Not to be outdone fellow UK firm BG’s Chairman Andrew Gould told new Oil Minister Usama Kamal on 11 September that the firm would be investing $3-5bn in Egypt over the coming years.

Other key operators such as Shell and Eni have also been touting their “commitment” to Egypt via multi-billion investment plans. The commitments come after Mr Kamal called on the country’s key foreign operators to “develop and increase their investment and accelerate development of gas discoveries, especially in the deepwater offshore Mediterranean,” which in turn followed a summer of power cuts (MEES, 13 August). (CONTINUED - 1098 WORDS)