European firms stop Egypt drilling, evacuate staff

Some big European energy companies have suspended drilling and evacuated staff in Egypt due to political unrest but gas production have not yet been affected, they said on Monday. Egypt is one of the world's top 10 exporters of liquefied natural gas (LNG), and consumes a lot of its own output, but is not a big oil exporter.
Britain's BP, which produces a large share of Egypt's oil and gas, and Spain's Gas Natural, operator of the Damietta LNG plant, said they were evacuating some employees but that operations were unaffected. Royal Dutch Shell planned to evacuate its international staff on Sunday, while Norway's Statoil also evacuated some staff and suspended drilling for more fuel.