Egypt to Convert 50,000 Vehicles to Run on Natural Gas

Tarek al-Mulla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources affirmed that Egypt aims to convert 50,000 vehicles to work with natural gas during the current fiscal year.

In light of the presidential initiative to expand the use of natural gas in cars instead of fuel, the ministry plans to increase the number of compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles in the following years, adding that the plan includes establishing 50 new natural gas stations annually to keep pace with the expected growth during the coming period.

This came during al-Mulla's visit for the integrated center for supplying and converting cars to work with natural gas "Gastec" to check on the services provided to citizens' cars operating in natural gas.

Gastec center provides car conversion services to work with dual fuel (gas / gasoline), as well as supplying about 1300 cars daily with CNG.

Al-Mulla said that it is planned to raise awareness and promotional campaigns to encourage citizens to convert to natural gas, referring to coordination between the Ministry of Petroleum, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) and the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (MSMEDA) to provide the financial facilities necessary for car owners in easy installments.

Converting a vehicle to natural gas takes about 4 hours and includes performing technical examination and the necessary installations that take into account the application of standard specifications and adherence to high safety requirements in maintenance and operation.

The customer has the freedom to change between the gas and gasoline system in the car, as it allows the car to be operated with a dual fuel system and change between the two systems easily through a control switch, and there is no change or modification in any part of the engine during the conversion process.

Al-Mulla explained during the tour that the expansion in the use of natural gas for cars will have a tangible positive impact on the state, indicating that the citizen will benefit from the cost difference between gas and other fuels such as gasoline and diesel, as well as benefit from the advantages of natural gas as the cleanest fossil fuel, offering a significant contribution to improved local air quality.

He added that this approach will contribute to rationalizing gasoline and diesel consumption, reducing import costs, and providing foreign currency reserves, in addition to achieving the optimal economic benefit from the natural gas wealth in Egypt.

320,000 vehicles were converted to natural gas so far

The minister pointed out that the ministry’s program to convert vehicles to work with natural gas has made remarkable progress during the past fiscal year despite precautionary measures to counter the spread of the coronavirus, indicating that a total of 42 thousand cars were converted to work with CNG during the year, an increase of 25% over the previous fiscal year, bringing the total number of converted cars to about 320,000 vehicles.