CAIRO, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- There are no plans to shut down the Egyptian offices of Dutch energy company Shell for the long term, the company said.
BG Group was one of the first energy companies pulling some staff out of Egypt following the government takeover by the nation's military in early July. The company said offshore operations were not affected by the situation in Egypt, though exports of liquefied natural gas have declined.
Ahmed ElGabry, a spokesman for Shell in Egypt, told Daily News Egypt the company's offices were shut down because of violence last week, but it was only a temporary response to the situation.
"We can't anticipate what will happen in the future but for the time being we have no intention to close our offices in the country," he said in an interview published Sunday.
Western embassies were closed briefly last month and several companies with operations in Egypt evacuated non-essential staff because of the violence.
U.S. energy explorer Apache Corp. announced last week, however, it made seven oil and natural gas discoveries in the Western Desert of Egypt. The company said its exploration and development program in Egypt was on pace during the second quarter of 2013.
