Western energy majors return to Egypt

The Egyptian Petroleum Ministry said the Cairo government signed crude oil and natural gas exploration contracts worth $187 million with companies from Canada, Germany, Italy and Tunisia.

The ministry said Germany’s RWE was awarded two exploration blocks while a consortium of Canada’s TransGlobe, Italy’s Edison and Tunisia’s HBSI won five blocks in the Western Desert.

The statement on Sept. 19 appeared to mark the return of foreign energy contractors to Egypt. Cairo has amassed a debt of more than $6 billion to foreign energy companies, including British Petroleum and Dana Gas of the United Arab Emirates.