Egypt says it paid $5 billion to foreign oil partners, targets arrears cut

CAIRO: Egypt has paid about $5 billion in overdue bills to foreign oil and gas partners and aims to bring remaining arrears down to $1.2 billion by June 2026, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said.
Arrears stood at $6.1 billion on June 30, 2024, he said in a statement, adding the government was also ⁠meeting the partners’ monthly invoices.
A foreign currency shortage forced Egypt to delay payments to international oil companies operating in Egypt, slowing investment and contributing to a drop in ⁠gas output that forced it to rely heavily on imports from 2022, whether from neighboring Israel or costly LNG cargoes.
But following a giant $35 billion deal in 2024 with the United Arab Emirates for the rights to develop a prime stretch of Egypt’s Mediterranean coast, Egypt ⁠started paying back oil companies.
Egypt produced 3,635 million cubic meters of gas in October last year, up slightly from 3,525 million cubic meters in September but down from 3,851 million cubic meters in October 2024, according to the Joint Organizations Data Initiative.