The National Bank of Egypt's (NBE) direct loans for petroleum sector rose to EGP 25 billion at the end of last April, sources said. The bank regularly issues letters of credit and offers loans to the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) to help it in meeting the petroleum requirements of the country and the Corporation's liabilities towards foreign partners. NBE considers offering loan worth EGP 100 million to Sun Masr Petroleum Company in the upcoming period which had earlier received a loan worth EGP 100 million. Many banks have asked the Ministry of Finance to guarantee any loans granted to EGPC as it exceeded the maximum international credit limit which is 30% of the capital of the lender. NBE is one of the main financiers of petroleum sector as it approved to allocate EGP one billion for the General Petroleum Company, subsidiary to EGPC, to help it in its expansions in oil exploration operations in wells in Ras Ghaleb, Eastern desert and Abu Sanan in Western desert.
