Egypt has witnessed an upturn in fortunes in recent months. Gas output rebounded to 5.23bn cfd in June, the highest since October 2013 (MEES, 4 August). Oil output posted an increase for three consecutive months to June, hitting an eight-month high of 638,000 b/d (see chart & MEES, 11 August). The economy is on the mend, following the approval of a $12bn loan from the IMF in November, with foreign exchange reserves hitting $36bn at the end of July – the highest figure since 2010.
Large IOCs and Egypt’s top producers have been quick to praise the country for the swift turnaround, with US-firm Apache saying earlier this month that it is “very excited about the long-term potential in Egypt.” Despite Apache only spending 10% of its Q2 budget of $738mn on its Egypt operations, production contributes to just shy of 30% of the company’s total output of 460,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d). On a gross basis, Apache produced 197,000 b/d of oil in Q2 and 826mn cfd of gas, 31% and 19% of Egypt’s output respectively. (CONTINUED - 1012 WORDS)
