Sudan tells Egypt no oil investment opportunities without gas deal: report

January 23, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government informed Cairo that any opportunities for Egyptian oil company to invest in the country is contingent upon securing a gas deal, according to a newspaper report.

This month the Egyptian petroleum minister Sameh Fahmy told the Al-Youm Al-Sabe’ online news portal that his government is considering supplying its southern neighbor with natural gas to meet its growing energy demand.

Fahmy said that Cairo is still considering whether or not to heed to the request in light of a decision it took last year not to sign any new gas export contracts until 2010 in order to meet rising local demand.

The Cairo based Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper quoted the Chairman of the General Petroleum Corporation Abdel-Aleem Taha as saying that the Sudanese side raised the issue during bilateral talks.

He added that Egypt is seeking to persuade the Sudanese side to obtain concession areas for oil “for the benefit of public and private companies after the oil boom and achievements by Sudan in terms of research and exploration during the past five years”.

Currently, Chinese companies dominate the oil exploration arena in Sudan.

Egypt is a significant natural gas exporter and currently exports 200-250 million cfd of natural gas to Jordan, its main export market, according to Egypt’s state-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS).

The country’s proven natural gas reserves rose to around 77.2 trillion cubic feet in the 2008/09 fiscal year.

(ST)