German energy company lauds Egyptian success

CAIRO, June 5 (UPI) -- German energy company RWE Dea said Thursday it's produced more than 640 million barrels of crude oil during its 30 years of operations in Egypt.

The German oil and gas company marked Thursday as the 30th anniversary of work in the Gulf of Suez. It's been working through the Suez Oil Co., a joint venture established with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corp.

The company said production from the Ras Fanar, Zeit Bay and Ras Budran fields in Egypt have yielded 640 million barrels of oil since operations began in 1984.

"For 30 years now, we have consistently leveraged new ideas to develop intelligent solutions, using the latest technology, and investing in our infrastructure," Maximilian Fellner, general manager of RWE Dea Egypt, said in a statement. "That's how we have been able to maintain a high level of oil production from these three fields over an extended period of time while ensuring profitability."

British energy company BG Group in May expressed concern about its future operations in Egypt, citing continued diversions of natural gas to the domestic market. No cargoes of liquefied natural gas left Egypt during the first quarter of 2014 for BG Group and the company said its production was down 35 percent from fourth quarter 2013

The German energy company holds shares in 10 oil and gas areas in Egypt covering more than 1,300 square miles.