据路透社9月9日开罗报道,埃及石油部长谢里夫·伊斯梅尔9日在开罗接受路透社记者采访时表示,埃及在8月份已向外国石油公司支付了6亿美元的欠款,埃及目前仍拖欠外国石油公司29亿美元的债务。
伊斯梅尔还说,埃及打算在今年年底前把拖欠外国石油公司的债务总数减少到25亿美元。
在断电、武装分子袭击以及2011年推翻前独裁者穆巴拉克起义引发的政治动乱打击下,推迟偿还拖欠外国石油公司欠款严重阻碍了外国石油公司对埃及经济的投资。
埃及能源部门上个月获得了一次提振,意大利能源集团埃尼公司说该公司日前在埃及地中海发现了已知最大的气田,预计这个发现可以帮助满足埃及未来几十年的天然气需求。
曾向以色列和世界其他地方出口天然气的埃及在过去几年里已经成为了一个能源净进口国。
李峻 编译
原文如下:
Egypt aims to cut arrears owed to oil firms
CAIRO,September 09,2015
Egypt paid foreign oil companies $600 million in arrears in August and still owes them $2.9 billion, the petroleum minister told Reuters on Wednesday.
Sherif Ismail also said Egypt aims to lower the amount of arrears it owes foreign oil companies to $2.5 billion by the end of 2015.
Delays in paying back foreign companies had discouraged investment in Egypt's economy, battered by power cuts, attacks by militants and political turmoil triggered by a 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Egypt's energy sector received a boost last month when Italian energy group Eni said it had discovered the largest known gas field in the Mediterranean off the Egyptian coast, predicting the find could help meet the country's gas needs for decades to come.
Egypt, which once exported gas to Israel and elsewhere, has become a net energy importer over the last few years. - Reuters