Apache Drills Deep into Egypt’s Shifting Sands
Wells operated by the U.S. company pump one-quarter of the country’s oil
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The half dozen or so low-rise buildings that house Apache’s Egypt headquarters don’t stand out from the Cairo neighborhood. The fleet of SUVs parked under the trees on the narrow residential street are the only clue that dozens of geologists and engineers are working inside. The modest rented digs “allow us to keep a low profile,” says Thomas E. Voytovich, Apache’s Egypt chief.
The Houston company may be trying to downplay its presence, but it is the biggest American investor in Egypt, according to the U.S. embassy in Cairo, and the political future there remains murky. Since the mid-1990s, Apache has pumped $8 billion into oil ventures in Egypt, which now accounts for about a quarter of the company’s revenues.