Nicosia, Aug 21 : The Head of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EPGC) Abdallah al-Alim Taha recently said that Egypt's reserves of crude oil and natural gas have hit a record level.

The country's confirmed reserves of crude oil, he said, have reached the all-time record of 4.2 billion barrels, representing an increase of 221 million barrels compared to the previous year.

Also, Egypt's confirmed reserves of natural gas hit a new record reaching 76 trillion cubic feet, an increase of 3.7 trillion cubic feet compared with the previous year. This represents an annual average rate of 8.5 per cent in the last ten years.

The increases in Egypt's crude oil and natural gas reserves are direct results of intensifying exploration processes nationwide under agreements signed during the last few years.

It should be noted that BP, which has produced 40 per cent of Egypt's oil to date, plans to spend eight billion dollars by the end of 20012.

ANI