At the same time, domestic industry and power plants are asking: What about us?
By Eric Schewe Fifty kilometers north of the mouth of the Nile s Rashid branch, one of the oldest segments of Egypt s economy occasionally risks colliding into one of its newest. If they ever should, results could be catastrophic. It s the job of three cruisers hired by the Rashid Petroleum Company, a public-private joint venture managed by Great Britain-based oil and gas major BG Group that operates a network of 34 offshore natural gas wells, to see that never happens. Once or twice a month, the fleet maneuvers to warn local fishing boats against approaching one of the company s three platforms, two of which hold wells that have millions of cubic feet of flammable gas coursing through them every day. Marine growth [such as barnacles] collects on the platform legs. The marine growth attracts fish and the fish attract the fishermen, says Gary Phillips, operations general manager for Rashid Petroleum (Rashpetco). With a little bit of cooperation, the fish will still end up on Egyptian pl
