(Ecofin Agency) - In Egypt, Royal Dutch Shell has offered the Rosetta concession in Rashid for sale to any international company, a source close to the company revealed.

According to the source, Shell chose not to perform any development operations in Rosetta because “development will be expensive with almost no economic feasibility, considering the price of gas produced there.” He added that the Rosetta field currently produces 40 million cubic feet of gas per day and is to halt production by July.

BP bought the Rosetta gas treatment plant in Rashid from Shell for $128 million and has been preparing to connect production from the Fayoum and Giza fields to it. Shell has cut its investments in the Burullus and Rashid concession areas for this fiscal year to back operation and maintenance from $222m in the fiscal year of 2015/2016 to $158.9m.

The company allocated $22.7m for the operational costs of the field and $1.4m for field maintenance without developing the field. As initially revealed, the Ministry of Petroleum owes Shell $1.3billion for the foreign partner share of the gas produced from both the Rashid and Burullus fields, Energy Egypt reports.

The Egyptian government acquires the foreign partner’s share in Burullus and Rashid gas at $50m per month, but the dues are not paid early enough as a result of the shortfall in foreign currency in the country.

Anita Fatunji