Sharjah: Dana Gas, the Sharjah-based energy exploration and development company, on Tuesday said it will develop the Egypt Gas City jointly with the Egyptian government.
Gas Cities are self-sustaining, fully integrated industrial cities designed for the systematic and comprehensive utilisation of natural gas as fuel and feedstock, being developed across the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) region by Gas Cities Limited, a joint venture between Crescent Petroleum and Dana Gas.
They are designed to promote economic activity, bring substantial foreign investments directly into the local markets, catalyse economic growth across a wide spectrum of business sectors and encourage more investment-driven developments to expand employment.
Dana Gas executive chairman Hamid Jafar presented the Gas Cities concept at the a conference in Egypt this week.
"As a regional company, we are focused on local use and benefit from gas, and in this context are proud to be jointly developing with the government the Egyptthe Gas City Project, which will increase the local benefit from gas through maximum job creation and investment for sustainable economic growth," Jafar said in a statement.
Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmad Naseef met Jafar at the Economist Conference's Sixth Business Roundtable held from February 16 to 17.
The Roundtable, which was attended by the prime minister and nine members of his cabinet, brought together leading businessmen, investors and key decision makers to discuss issues pertaining to the current economic situation in Egypt.
Dana Gas, the Middle East's first and largest private sector natural gas company, also presented the Gas Cities concept to the conference, being developed by Gas Cities LLC under a joint venture with Crescent Petroleum, which it believes to be the optimum energy solution for the region. The company is committed to establishing Gas City Egypt.
Jafar told the symposium: "Egypt has doubled its gas reserves in the past five years, and is meeting the needs of the large domestic market while exporting gas through both pipeline and LNG, with over 60 companies active in its upstream sector.
"Dana Gas marked its entry to the Egyptian energy sector with the $1.1 billion (Dh4.04 billion) acquisition of Centurion Energy in 2007 - clear evidence of our confidence in the local investment climate."
