. "AFP"

Monday, July 13, 2026 11:25 | 2 minutes read

Cheron Finance Limited, a subsidiary of Cheron Energy, signed a $550 million financing agreement with a consortium of Gulf and international banks to develop gas fields in Egypt and refinance existing debt, according to two informed sources who spoke to Bloomberg Asharq on condition of anonymity.

One of the sources said the financing involved HSBC, Mashreq, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Ahli United Bank (Kuwait), ABC, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, National Bank of Kuwait, Emirates NBD, and Mauritius Commercial Bank.

The two sources explained that the financing, which is one of the largest directed to the energy sector recently, will be used to fund operational activities and develop three gas concessions in Egypt, in addition to refinancing existing debt and extending repayment terms to five years.

Sat, 11 2026

"Pico Petroleum", which later became "Cheron Petroleum", acquired the concession of French company Engie for natural gas exploration in the West Burullus area of the Mediterranean in 2017, and the assets of global company Shell in the Western Desert in 2021, making it one of the top four oil and gas exploration and production operators in Egypt, according to the company's website.

Boosting Gas Production in Egypt

Cheron owns assets in Egypt, Mexico, and Romania, with its main operations currently focused on the Egyptian market, as it looks to increase its investments in natural gas and geographically diversify its asset portfolio. Meanwhile, Egypt aims to raise its domestic natural gas production to about 6.6 billion cubic feet per day by 2030, compared to around 3.8 billion cubic feet per day currently, by accelerating the development of new discoveries and increasing exploration activities.

Egypt's Ministry of Petroleum aims to drill 14 new exploratory wells in the Mediterranean during 2026 to assess reserves estimated at about 12 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, alongside attracting foreign direct investments in the petroleum sector worth $6.2 billion during the fiscal year 2026-2027, which began in July.

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