Dana Petroleum monitoring growing unrest in Egypt 16 August 2013 Last updated at 13:27 Aberdeen-based oil firm Dana Petroleum has said it is continuing to monitor events in Egypt after pulling non-essential staff from the country amid growing political unrest. Dana stated it had taken the step to ensure the safety of staff. Dana has interests in the Gulf of Suez, the Nile Delta and the Western Desert. Other oil firms have also reacted to developments in Egypt, where hundreds of lives were lost this week after authorities broke up protest camps. Royal Dutch Shell has shut its offices in Egypt for the next few days, while BP is closely monitoring developments in the country. Staff safety In a statement, Dana said its "primary concern" was always the safety and wellbeing of its employees. Plans are also in place to secure the safety of our local Egyptian employees should the situation worsen End Quote Dana Petroleum "As a result of the situation in Egypt we moved all non-essential expatriate staff and their families out of Cairo to Aberdeen six weeks ago where they continue to work," the company said. A small core team of expatriate staff led by our managing director for Egypt, Paul Barnett, remains in country. Plans are also in place to secure the safety of our local Egyptian employees should the situation worsen. It added: "We are keeping the situation under close review." Dana has a portfolio in Egypt of 21 development leases, which have been producing about 10,000 barrels of oil per day. It includes the East Zeit field, where in 2012 Dana drilled four wells. East Zeit is operated by Zeitco, an Egyptian joint venture company formed between Dana and the Egyptian General Petroleum Company. Dana's plans in Egypt this year include drilling 15 production wells, nine exploration wells and eight water injection wells.