CAIRO, Sept 19 (Askume) – Egypt’s Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly said on Thursday he aimed to resume normal production from natural gas fields by next summer. He said the government was trying to resolve arrears with power generation companies.
Madbouly told a news conference that production had fallen because of the arrears, but he did not say how much the government owed or when it would be repaid.
Sources told Askume in March that the government had set aside up to $1.5 billion to pay foreign oil and gas companies operating in the country, dues that arose from a long-standing shortage of foreign currency that has now eased.
Electricity shortages in Egypt occur during the summer due to high demand on cooling systems. Most of the country’s electricity is produced by burning natural gas.
After some natural gas arrived in July, the government stopped so-called load-shedding blackouts.
“There will be no more power cuts,” Madbouly said, adding that the government has set aside $2.5 billion to ensure this.
There are also plans to bring the first phase of the Egypt-Saudi Arabia power grid online by the summer of 2025, he said.
