Russia, Egypt talk Gazprom entry in Egypt projects Senior officials from Russia and Egypt on Wednesday discussed the entry of Russian natural gas export monopoly Gazprom into energy projects in Egypt, the Ministry of Trade and Industry told Reuters. One of our important points is cooperation in energy, now oil and gas. Novatek and LUKOIL are already working here. We were discussing how to have Gazprom start cooperation in Egypt also, said Trade Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid. Rachid spoke by telephone from Cairo after talks with Russian Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko. He declined to give details on a possible deal with Gazprom. -Agencies Inflation not deterring investors, Central Bank says Inflation, which accelerated to the fastest pace in 11 months in February, is not deterring international investors, said Tarek Amer, deputy governor of the Central Bank of Egypt. "I haven t heard concerns from investors that they aren t investing in Egypt because of inflation, Amer said at a conference in London today. "Inflation, as it is the case in Egypt now, is a subset of what s happening globally. Inflation accelerated to 12.1 percent in February from 10.1 percent in January as commodity prices such as wheat rose on the global market. -Bloomberg Egypt to boost energy cooperation with China, says official Xinhua news agency reported that Egypt is willing to strengthen bilateral cooperation with China in the field of energy to promote technology exchange and create more jobs in Egypt, a senior Egyptian energy official said on Wednesday night. Abd El Aleem Taha, chairman of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, made the remarks at a seminar on the "Prospects of Sino-Egyptian Cooperation on Oil held at the headquarters of local daily Al Ahram. The cooperation between Egypt and China is very important and Egypt attached great importance to the bilateral cooperation in this respect, Taha said. He said that China s expertise benefited Egypt in the domain, citing Mubarak-1 oil rig, the first in Egypt and Africa, was manufactured by an Egyptian-Chinese factory more than two months ago. The Egyptian official expected to boost cooperation with China in the fields of oil refinery project, oil exploring and oil rig manufacturing. For his part, Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Wu Chunhua hailed Egypt s achievements in recent years in oil production, research, exploration and export as the oil industry is one of the main industries in Egypt. The Chinese diplomat also lauded the active cooperation between China and Egypt in the field of oil in the past few years, including the projects of Sinotharwa Drilling Company and the Egyptian Petroleum HH Rig Manufacturing Shareholder Company. The Chinese government pays great attention to the cooperation with Egypt in various fields, he said, expecting a flourishing prospect of Sino-Egyptian cooperation on oil. Some 50 participants from the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum, oil experts and businessmen from both countries attended the seminar, which aimed to provide a chance for information exchange and mutual benefit for both sides. -Agencies BP, RWE, Shell to spend $950 mln in Egypt, says ministry BP Plc, RWE AG and Royal Dutch Shell Plc agreed to spend $950 million on oil and gas exploration off Egypt as the nation seeks to ramp up output amid record energy prices, the Petroleum Ministry said. BP and RWE will explore together in two deep-water areas north of Alexandria and promised to spend $800 million on drilling and surveying. Shell will spend at least $45 million on exploration north of Damietta, the ministry said on its website. The three companies will pay the government bonuses totaling $105 million on signing the agreement, it said. Egypt, Africa s second-largest gas producer behind Algeria, aims to double its exports of the fuel to 35 billion cubic meters a year by 2011. - Bloomberg Egypt expects more interest in phone license Reuters reported that Egypt expects two more companies to show interest in acquiring its second fixed-line license, scheduled for bidding in June, the telecommunications regulator said on Wednesday. Based on our market studies we expect the number of interested companies to increase to eight companies, Amr Badawy, chairman of the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) told a news conference. By Wednesday six companies, including France Telecom, Orascom Telecom, Egypt s Alkan, Egypt s Giza Systems, Abu Dhabi-based Etisalat, and the Atheeb group of Saudi Arabia had bought the booklet of conditions for the sale of the license. Badawy said the door would stay open for other companies interested in competing until June 19. -Agencies Israel, Egypt agree in principle for Egypt to supply Gaza with electricity JERUSALEM: Israeli defense officials say they ve worked out a tentative deal for Egypt to become the main electricity supplier to the Gaza Strip. The officials say the agreement stems from Israel s desire to cut off all ties with the Gaza Strip. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but remains the area s main power supplier. The deal must still be finalized. But when it s complete, Egypt is expected to build a power line to supply 150 megawatts to Gaza. Israel has imposed a blockade on the territory in recent months in an effort to force Gaza s rulers of the Hamas Islamic group to stop rocket fire into southern Israel. The Israeli sanctions include small cuts in electricity supplies. -AP
