BP to invest $10bn in Egypt's gas fields over next 5 years

Egypt's Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab finalised an investment deal on Tuesday with the CEO of British Petroleum (BP) in gas fields worth $10 billion over the next four to five years, Al-Ahram's Arabic news website reported.

The fields, discovered by BP, are estimated to hold 5 trillion cubic feet of gas and produce 1.2 million cubic feet per day – equivalent to 20 percent of Egypt's current daily gas production.

The CEO also told Mahlab that the company has been working to invest in Egypt's Nile Delta, Suez Canal and the Mediterranean.

Egypt has suffered an energy crisis in the past three years, most evident in frequent electricity blackouts. Several government officials have attributed the power cuts to a growing fuel subsidies bill and declining gas production.