22 - 28 February 2001
Issue No.522
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 22 - 28 February 2001 Issue No.522 |
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BG taps into Egypt's future
By Tarek Fathi
Peter Dranfield, president of British Gas Egypt, said Egypt's wealth of natural gas resources has prompted the company to expand its operations to satisfy growing local and international demand.
Peter Dranfield
British Gas Egypt is the major investor in a $330 million project, inaugurated on Monday by Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmi and BG President Richard Giordano, to exploit the Rosetta gas field. The other partners are the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and Edison International, the Italian company. The largest natural gas field to be developed in Egypt, Rosetta is located north of the Delta, 50km offshore.
British Gas Egypt, the local affiliate of British Gas, is, together with its partners, investing $3 billion in its development and exploration operations in Egypt. According to Dranfield, the natural gas sector holds huge potential and its efficient exploitation will be a major asset in securing Egypt's economic future.
"The gas business here is unique in the sense that gas reserves need an infrastructure which require pipes and chains interconnected with state-of-the-art human skills," he said. "Existing skills, which extend across the entire chain [of the Egyptian petroleum sector] will enable both our company and the sector to secure major international standing."
The company's future plans, Dranfield said, include the construction of an LNG facility for the liquefaction of natural gas at competitive prices and its export to markets along the northern rim of the Mediterranean -- Turkey, Spain, Italy, Greece -- as well as to other markets, including the US.
"We are anxious to secure supplies to meet rising international demand and are very hopeful that Egypt will play its part in this respect."
BG is also responsible for the phased development of the Scarab field in the West Delta deep-water area. In addition, an analogous exports scheme is being worked out, at an estimated cost of $2 billion to cover upstream development offshore in the Nile Delta and $1 billion to finance the construction of a liquefaction plant. Further infrastructure development for the transmission of natural gas to Upper Egypt and the construction of an extended transmission line linking the governorates of Beni Suef and Assiut is likely to come in at $300 million, Dranfield said.
Meanwhile, BG Egypt has entered into partnership with the Egyptian private sector Nile Valley Gas Company to execute the first phase of a project targetting 20,000 domestic connections in Upper Egypt. The two companies will also develop gas infrastructure, transmission and distribution facilities in the same area.
But will extensive export plans negatively impact the ability of the natural gas sector to meet Egypt's growing domestic demand?
"We want to help develop the local Egyptian market. We feel the Egyptian government is offering this opportunity in the form of gas franchises, which is a very positive way of building Egypt's gas infrastructure so that the country can make full use of its reserves," Dranfield said.
BG, along with EGPC and the Ministry of Petroleum, have so far drilled seven successful exploration wells. And with an increase in gas reserves from 43.3 trillion cubic feet to 45 trillion in 2000, Egypt need no longer be dependent on other countries for its supply of natural gas.
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