Egypt's Minister of Petroleum Karim Badawi said on Wednesday that the full settlement of arrears owed to oil and gas partners marked a turning point for the sector. Badawi said payment of the arrears, "restores investor confidence and paves the way for increased upstream activity and accelerated project development". Egypt had accumulated about $6.1 billion in arrears to foreign oil companies by June 30, 2024 due to a prolonged foreign currency shortage that delayed payments and weighed on investment and gas output. The shortage has since eased, though some companies have said that arrears kept accumulating. The minister said clearing the debt removed a key obstacle to new investment inflows and would support increased exploration, drilling and field development activity, including projects in the Mediterranean where development typically requires significant capital spending and years of work before production begins.
