EGYPT - EGPC Profile.

There are about 75,000 people working in the state's hydrocarbon sector, including EGPC, Ganope, Egas and Echem, under the control of the Petroleum Ministry. EGPC is one of the biggest NOCs in the Middle East and Africa.

Although it has lost the oil sector in Upper Egypt, the gas sector to

Egas and the petrochemical sector to Echem, EGPC remains a huge concern. It is integrated with major upstream and downstream oil operations. It functions as a holding group and has almost 30 operating subsidiaries and affiliates. EGPC was established in 1962 as an evolution from the General Petroleum Authority which was created in 1956. It grew rapidly as it became in charge of 50-50 E&P ventures with Amoco (now part of BP), Agip and many other foreign companies.

The government in 1964 nationalised the sole oil concessionaire, Anglo-Egyptian Oilfields (Shell-BP). The assets of this company were taken over by General Petroleum Company (GPC), which was also created in 1956 and is now one of EGPC's operating subsidiaries.

EGPC controls all or part of the capital of all Egyptian companies in the oil E&P sector. It holds 50% in all the oil producing joint ventures which are operated by foreign and some Egyptian companies. These JVs are all headed by EGPC executives appointed by the Petroleum Minister.

Hassan Aql: The chairman of Ganoub El Wadi Petroleum Co. since it was established 2003, (Ganope), Aql is an engineer who until then was a deputy chairman of EGPC.

Mohammed Tawila: The Chairman of Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co. (Egas) since its creation in August 2001, Tawila is one of the architects of Egypt's gas strategy to the year 2017 and the one to 2020 adopted in early 2000 when he was chairman of EGPC. Before becoming EGPC chairman in 2000 to succeed Abdel Khaleq Ayad, Tawila was chairman of Gasco which now is part of Egas. Tawila is also chairman of the Higher Committee for Petroleum Resources, which is a key body in the decision making process for the petroleum sector.

Having headed Gasco since it was created in March 1997, Tawila used to manage the gas sector in EGPC as a deputy chairman. He and Sameh Fahmi played a key role in formulating the Egyptian government's integrated gas strategy and Master Plan to the year 2017. He was a major contributor to the 2000-2020 strategy in which the government is focusing on natural gas and related businesses. Among the short-term objectives of Egas and Gasco is to raise the number of vehicles running on compressed natural gas (CNG) to 100,000.

Tawila is a chemical engineer graduated from Cairo University in 1966. He joined EGPC and, like the Fahmi twins, was promoted quickly through the company's ranks. He worked with the Fahmis for many years. In the early 1990s he became EGPC deputy chairman in charge of the natural gas division.

Before becoming in charge of the entire gas sector, Tawila was one of the figures behind the gas price formula which was adopted by the Ministry of Petroleum in early 2001. The formula, made retroactive to mid-2000, establishes the price at which Egas buys gas from the producing JVs.

This provides a ceiling of $2.65/m BTU, if the price of Dated Brent is $20/b or higher, and a floor of $1.50/m BTU if Dated Brent is $10/b or lower. Dated Brent replaced the Gulf of Suez Blend of crude oils as the marker for the gas pricing formula.

Minister Fahmi, Tawila and the other Egyptian executives in the petroleum sector were against the previous formula which was high and caused the country's petroleum trade deficit to soar. Under the old formula it was impossible for Egypt to export natural gas, as the purchase price in fiscal 1999/2000 was way above $3/m BTU.

Nevertheless, the old formula had encouraged foreign companies to invest heavily in gas exploration which caused the country's gas reserves to reach 120 TCF - according to minister Fahmi in early 2001 - from less than 12 TCF in the 1980s. The official estimate of proven gas reserves in 2005 was 68 TCF. But many gas discoveries made in 2005 are yet to be added to the official estimate.

Hussein Hamouda is a key vice chairman of Egas in charge of gas exploration and E&P agreements with operators in the natural gas sector. Addressing a conference in Marrakech (Morocco) last May, Hamouda said international oil companies (IOCs) had only scraped the surface with their astoundingly successful gas exploration programmes in the Nile Delta region, potentially opening the way for more gas E&P ventures in the future. Proven reserves of natural gas by then had been officially estimated at 67 TCF (1.9 TCM), from only 3.8 TCF in 1982. "And there is still another 100 TCF out there waiting to be found", Humouda added.

Since 1966, Humouda said, 325 exploration wells had been drilled in the Nile Delta, of which 191 had made discoveries, 17 containing more than 1 TCF. By May 2005, some 24 fields had been producing over 4,000 MCF/day. Even so, he said, Egas was pressing for more international investment to build on the momentum which had turned the Nile region into a "world-class gas hub". Egas had by then signed eight gas E&P agreements with IOCs since August 2001, with another five in the works and one under evaluation. Of a total 200,000 square kilometers of Mediterranean and Nile Delta net acreage, 47% remained unclaimed, Humouda said. While the Gulf of Suez was a mature oil play, the Red Sea, Gulf of Aqaba and most of Egypt's desert interior remained sparsely explored. He said given Egypt's burgeoning LNG industry, not to mention its ambitious pipeline export plans, there should be no shortage of options to commercialise new gas discoveries.

Hani Soliman, the Egas vice chairman for operations, was previously the deputy head of Gasco which used to be chaired by Tawila. Like Tawila, Soliman is an engineer. Eng. Nehad el-Kordy is head of Gas Development Studies and Operations at Egas.

The chairman of Gasco now is Eng. Yusri el-Shamma'. Another key executive in the petroleum sector is Atef Khafaji, who is a member of the Egas' board. Khafaji is a prominent engineer and a geologist. He is also EGPC vice chairman for exploration and discoveries.