El-Molla: Egypt to Achieve Self-Sufficiency from Petroleum Products by 2023

Tarek El-Molla , Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources reviewed on Sunday the new projects implemented in the petroleum and refining sector, stressing the ministry’s strategy to raise the efficiency and capacity of refineries to achieve self-sufficiency by 2023.

During his speech at the inauguration of a number of new projects in Mostorod, Qalyubia, in the presence of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, he added that the development of the refining industry was facing challenges such as the aging of refineries, nevertheless, the strategy of refining, manufacturing and trading of petroleum was developed within the framework of developing the infrastructure for transporting petroleum products.

[caption id="attachment_153080" align="alignnone" width="960"] Refinanry plant at Mostorod, Qalyubia[/caption]

El-Molla explained that the most significant projects that have been operated with regard to refining, was the expansion of the Alexandria refinery, which was recently inaugurated, and the Egypt refinery, which was opened today, adding 4.3 million tons of petroleum products, indicating that another gasoline production complex will be concluded before the end of 2020.

The minister pointed out that 5 basic projects have been implemented in the refining sector, with a total investment of EGP 165 billion, adding 9.2 tons of various petroleum products.

He pointed out that the state has developed a strategy “2016-2023” to achieve self-sufficiency in petroleum products, especially gasoline and diesel, where more than one axis has been set up in order to achieve this sufficiency.

The development strategy includes economic reform, rationalization of consumption, development of power stations to operate with natural gas, as well as the development of refineries and road networks that contribute to reducing consumption and shortening the arrival time, in addition to developing the metro and railways stations, which reduce the use of private and local transportation to achieve self-sufficiency by 2023.