15 August 2013, News Wires – Violence in Egypt has so far not affected oil and gas production in the country, though at least one company has closed its offices temporarily and restricted business travel.
Clashes between protesters and the Egyptian military have killed at least 525 people, according to reports.
The crackdown has had no immediate impact on production, however.
“Operations and production are unaffected. We are monitoring the security situation in the (urban) areas where we have offices. All our people are safe and accounted for,” a BP spokesman told Reuters.
Egypt produces around 728,000 barrels per day of oil, or about 0.9% of global output. It also produces around 60.9 billion cubic metres per day of gas, 1.8% of the world’s total.
BP and its partners account for about 15% of that oil and more than 30% of the gas.
Anglo-Dutch supermajor Shell, which partners with BP, said it had closed its offices for the next few days, among other measures.
“To ensure the safety and security of our staff, Shell offices in Egypt are closed for business today and into the weekend, and business travel into the country has been restricted. We will continue to monitor the situation in Egypt,” the company said in a statement.
A spokesman for BG Group, whose offshore LNG operations account for about a fifth of Egypt’s total production, told Reuters that there was no change to report and that all its people were safe and accounted for.
In July, the company pulled out 100 expatriate staff and dependents.
– Upstream