London based Sunny Hill Energy (formerly Petroceltic) announced on 10 September that “as part of an overall agreement” to settle a long running dispute with Egypt’s government and state oil firm EGPC over receivables it “has now completed the sale of its Egyptian oil and gas assets to EGPC for an undisclosed sum.”

Back in 2013, Petroceltic was a midsize gas producer in Egypt with output of more than 100mn cfd from its Nile Delta concessions (MEES, 20 September). But mounting dues from EGPC – some $80mn as of mid-2014 – exacerbated already stretched finances, which then got substantially worse with the 2H 2014 oil price crash. The firm effectively went bust and was taken over by its key bondholder Worldview Capital in early 2016 (MEES, 8 April 2016). (CONTINUED - 300 WORDS)