General Petroleum Corporation history

1910: Anglo-Egyptian Oilfields begins to produce oil from the Gemsa field.

PDL was later renamed the Qatar Petroleum Company (QPC). The first well, Dukhan Number 1, was drilled in 1939.

The first offshore concessions were granted in 1949 to two United States companies, the Superior Oil Company and the Central Mining and Investment Corporation.

The General was created in 1952 when the Dettmer brothers owned and operated General Petroleum and was used as the mascot.

Qatar's first refinery was built in Umm Said in 1953.

In 1956, the General Petroleum Authority (GPA) had been created by the Egyptian government to safeguard the country’s interests in the development of its valuable mineral resources.

Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation was the new name given in 1962 to the GPA. The following year, it entered into the first of a series of joint ventures with international companies for oil exploration and production.

However, Anglo-Egyptian was still the dominant player until 1964, when it was nationalized.

Phillips Petroleum’s explorations in the Western Desert led to the discovery of the El-Alamein oil field in 1966 and the Abu Gharadiq field, with both oil and gas, two years later.

Refining of crude oil is carried out by the National Oil Distribution Company (NODCO), a wholly owned subsidiary of QGPC established in 1968.

Gas is the key feedstock for the Qatar Fertiliser Company (QAFCO) which was established by the government in 1969.

In 1973, the Arab Petroleum Pipeline Company was created, in which EGPC took a 50 percent share.

From then on, oil played a progressively greater part in the Egyptian economy, rising from less than five percent of GDP--differing from gross national product in that GDP excludes income from investment abroad--in 1974 to nearly 20 percent ten years later.

In 1976, Egypt became a net exporter of crude oil for the first time.

Since Cindie’s first day on May 13th of 1978, she has continued to enjoy the people she works with, whether that be people in the office, business partners, or clients.

Since 1979, the Abu Qir Fertilizer and Chemical Industries Company, one-fifth owned by EGPC, had run the largest fertilizer manufacturing operation in Egypt, obtaining some of its raw material from the Abu Qir gas field.

The decision to go ahead was taken in 1984 and it was decided that development would take place in phases.

Egypt needed to make as much of its oil as possible available for export, but until 1985 the annual growth in production had been more or less matched by the growth in domestic demand.

In 1987, Abul Hadi Qandil was succeeded as EGPC chairman by Muhammed Maabed, who had already served EGPC as deputy chairman for production.

In 1988, a firm of international consultants presented a plan to QGPC for the development of domestic projects to utilize Qatari gas.

In 1989 Qatar's Council of Ministers underwent a substantial transformation when several of the older members were retired and new ones, largely from the l,500-strong male side of the al-Thani family, were introduced into the government.

Much of the gas found to date was in the Western Desert, which was believed to contain more gas than oil, but by 1990 the Nile delta was the richest gas-producing area.

Shocks to the oil market arising from the 1991 conflict in Iraq also presented EGPC with both challenges and opportunities.

In 1998, EGPC signed a 25-year franchise agreement with a consortium led by British Gas International to extend the Cairo natural gas grid pipeline in four phases.

Increases in demand and high international oil prices forced Egypt to report an oil trade deficit—the first in nearly 25 years—in 1999.

“Shell, Egypt Report Gas Deal,” The Oil Daily, February 1, 2001.

“Egyptian Oil Output Rises,” The Oil Daily, March 6, 2002.

The country currently operates as an oil exporter, but increases in demand and declining oil production have raised concern that by 2010 Egypt will become a net importer of oil.