The Egyptian petroleum industry has always been one of the favorable environments for foreign investments, which are not just good sources for economic revenues, but a way to get locally updated with the latest international operations techniques and exchange expertise

In Egypt, foreign companies have the upper hand in the industry, whether through the E&P companies or the service companies. The reason behind the increasing number of foreign firms in the country compared to local ones lies in various factors, among which their financial backbone able to face any market or operations challenges and their technological advancement used in their E&P operations. Moreover, the Egyptian Ministries of Petroleum and Investment are continuously adopting vigorous campaigns to lure foreign investments to the country.

According to the Ministry of Petroleum website, the European companies top the list of foreign companies operating in Egypt as 27 European firms are currently holding operations in various areas. Out of which, there are nine British E&P companies, led by British Petroleum (BP) and British Gas (BG), three Greek companies, in addition to Italian (Agip and Edison), Swiss and Austrian companies, each with two firms. The remaining nine European companies are presented by Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Croatia, Ireland, Norway, Spain and France.

In the second place come the American corporations, with a total of 12 companies currently operating in Egypt, led by Apache, which recently announced the increase of its investments by $1 billion. 

As for the third place, there are 27 other companies from Asia, Canada and South America.

By Tamer Abdel Aziz