Egypt: New round of arrears paid

The government paid another $600m of arrears to oil companies in August, bringing its debt down to $2.9bn. Petroleum minister Sherif Ismail told Reuters that Egypt aimed to reduce the arrears to $2.5bn by year-end. Egypt received a significant boost on 30 August when Eni announced a huge gas discovery on the Shorouk licence. Eni said the block had estimated reserves of 30tcf in the Miocene interval, which could increase further once the deeper Cretaceous is explored.