Tarek El-Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources inspected the new petroleum projects in the Ain Sokhna region, which comes within the ministry’s program to develop the infrastructure for storing, handling and trading petroleum products.
The tour included the project of the Sonker Bunkering Company located in the third basin at Sokhna Port, which is being completed at an investment cost of $235 million, as one of the most important strategic centers for Egypt on the Red Sea coast.
El-Molla explained during the tour that the petroleum sector is working according to a national strategy to develop infrastructure and petroleum facilities on the Red and Mediterranean coasts through several strategic projects that contribute effectively to securing part of the country's needs of imported petroleum products, and enhancing the readiness of Egypt and its competitive elements to become a pivotal hub for oil and gas trading in the region.
"The Sonker project is an important and vital addition to the petroleum infrastructure in this field," the minister said, adding that the petroleum sector also has several other projects, the most important of which is the strategic center for the handling and storage of crude and petroleum products, which has been established in Sumed area in Ain Sokhna, as well as the Hamra port on the Mediterranean, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly last month.
El-Molla pointed out that the Sonker project represents a successful cooperation between the state represented in the petroleum sector, the Ministry of Finance, the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), and the private sector, adding that the project is being built according to the latest technologies to achieve efficiency in operation and maintain safety.
The project is fully implemented by Egypt's Petrojet, in the framework of maximizing the local component in the petroleum sector's projects.
During his tour at the Sonker station, the minister inspected the strategic storage area, which includes strategic storage warehouses for diesel and butane with a storage capacity of 100 thousand cubic meters of diesel and 150 thousand cubic meters of butane, where the petroleum products are received on the specialized pier for the circulation of petroleum products.
The circulation and storage of diesel in the station started operating in September 2019, and the system of handling and storing the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is being completed in preparation for its operation. The project also includes 3 pipelines to transport the LPG and diesel by two lines at the length of 6 km, and a diesel line with a length of 35 km.
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