Sources at the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources stated to Daily News Egypt that the ministry plans to repay part of its arrears for international oil companies (IOCs) in May after receiving the third tranche of both the World Bank loan and the African Development Bank (AFDB) loan.

The Ministry will repay an amount of $500m to a number of the IOCs working in Egypt in order for these IOCs to be able to continue their exploration work in the Egyptian fields.

Egyptian Minister of Petroleum, Tarek El Molla, said, during his participation in the 9th Mediterranean Offshore Conference (MOC), that Egypt is expected to repay half of the Ministry’s arrears to IOCs within weeks.

The Ministry’s dues to IOCs were estimated at $3.5m. Minister of Finance, Amr El-Garhy, previously announced that the government aims to repay its dues to IOCs, as part of the framework of the economic reform program that was agreed upon with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).