ENERGY-

Dana Gas could get the greenlight to begin its latest gas exploration project this year: Emirati firm Dana Gas expects to receive the Egyptian parliament’s approval on its gas exploration agreement with state-owned EGAS this year, company IR head Mohammed Mubaideen told CNBC Arabia. The agreement will see Dana drill 11 new wells in its Egyptian concessions and invest USD 100 mn over the next two years.

The company’s production in Egypt declined 12% in 1H 2023 as a result of natural field declines, according to a statement on its first-half results (pdf). The decline outweighed a rise in production in the Kurdistan Region of the Republic of Iraq (KRI), driving total production for the period down 2% to 59.8k barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd).

Collections drop: Dana Gas collected some AED 95 mn (USD 26 mn) from Egypt in 1H 2023, down 42% from the same period a year before. Collections from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq stood at AED 293 mn (USD 80 mn), down 41% y-o-y. Reuters also had the story.

TOURISM-

Travco boosts targets amid tourism boom: High-profile tourism firmTravco Group plans to raise its hotel capacity by 18% to 20k rooms in the next two years to capitalize on the tourism rebound, Chairman Hamed El Chiatytold Asharq Business. El Chiaty had in January said Travco was targeting increasing the number of its hotel rooms to 17k. The company also plans to raise its prices by around 20% starting next year thanks to rising demand.

Remember: Egypt welcomed a record 7 mn tourists in 1H 2023, up more than 40% y-o-y. Hotel occupancy rates across the country also jumped during the first half of the year, climbing to 80% from 65% during the same period last year. We spoke about how to increase tourism revenues by targeting high-spend visitors with Travco Holidays General Manager Moataz Sedky in our recent CEO poll on FDI and exports.

MANUFACTURING-

Cyanide plant in the works: Oil Minister Tarek El-Molla met the managing director of German cyanide producer CyPlus to discuss the company’s aspiration to build a sodium cyanide plant that would feed gold mining activity in the Eastern Desert, according to a ministry statement. The company will set up a joint working group with the ministry to draw up feasibility studies for the project, the statement read. Sodium cyanide is used to extract gold from ore.

COMMODITIES-

Rice regs: Supply Minister Ali El Mosehly yesterday issued a decree in the Official Gazette introducing new regulations aimed at keeping rice prices down. Under the new rules, traders and importers must provide the ministry with weekly updates on the quantities of rice they import and store, as well as purchase and selling prices.

Rice paperwork: Traders have a six-month grace period to obtain a food trading license or show that they are in the process of obtaining one, and two months to provide the ministry with proof of all relevant licenses and information about their operations. All packaged rice will need to clearly display key information like its country of origin, packaging date, and shelf life.

The world is short on rice: Rice prices in Asia this week hit their highest in almost 15 years as bad weather leads to fears of shortages, potentially exacerbating food insecurity in Asian and African countries where bns of people rely on the grain, Bloomberg reports.

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