Dow Jones/Cairo
|
UK oil giant BP said it is pulling some staff from Egypt as unrest escalated following the ousting of former president Mohammed Mursi by the military earlier in the week.
The decision by the key oil and gas producer in Egypt indicates the nation’s political crisis is starting to affect one of the country’s most profitable industries. In a statement, BP said that “as a precautionary measure, we will be withdrawing a number of nonessential expatriate staff, contractors and families on a temporary basis.”
But it added that all staff was safe and its local oil and gas production was not affected.
Meanwhile, a Royal Dutch Shell spokesman added: “The safety and security of our staff is our top priority. We don’t comment on specific security issues but we are following the situation in Egypt closely.”
At the same time, Houston-based oil and gas company Apache Corp (APA), a large investor in Egypt, said that “nothing has materially changed” due to the unrest in the North African country, and that drilling and production activities “continue unabated.”