Petroleum Announces Oil Refinery Projects with Value of $2.8 Bln

Tarek al-Mulla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources chaired on Wednesday a meeting of the Supreme Committee for Petroleum Projects via video conferencing to follow up on the implementation of new refining projects with the cost of $2.8 billion.

The projects include the Midor plant expansion project in Alexandria, the Assiut Gasoline Complex project in Assiut Oil Refining Company and the project for the construction of a new asphalt production unit at the Suez Petroleum Manufacturing Company.

Within the framework of the Ministry's strategy to develop and raise the efficiency and increase the capacity of the current refineries, a number of new projects are being implemented to sustain the supply of petroleum products to the local market, and to contribute to transforming Egypt into a central hub for refining crude oil and handling petroleum products.

Al-Mulla said that it was emphasized to review the time programs for implementing projects and work to increase the implementation rates that are carried out by the oil sector companies to compensate and shorten the delay period as much as possible that resulted from the corona pandemic, and its impact on the supply and external procurement programs of some project equipment that is imported from abroad and work to communicate with suppliers and factories to manufacture equipment and shipping, noting that the work did not stop during the last period and that the national companies played their role to help stabilize the sector.

The minister stressed the importance of benefiting and maximizing the local component to implement these projects through national companies, and to the importance of continuing coordination and continuous follow-up to achieve the implementation of these strategic projects.

During the meeting, the executive position was reviewed in the project of expansion of the MIDOR refinery with investments of $2.3 billion to increase the production capacity by 60%, and the production of petroleum products compatible with the updated European specifications, as well as the position of progress to implement the project of gasoline production at the Assiut Petroleum Refining Company at the of cost $450 million, and a production capacity of 800 thousand tons annually of gasoline to provide for the needs of Upper Egypt regions.

The minister also reviewed the current situation and the timetable for implementing the project for establishing a new asphalt production unit at Suez Petroleum Manufacturing Company were reviewed, at an investment cost of $64 million and a production capacity of 1200 tons per day, in accordance with the Egyptian specifications.

The meeting was attended by Saad Hilal, President of the Egyptian Petrochemical Holding Company, Mahmoud Nagy, Deputy Minister for Transport and Distribution of Petroleum Products, Ashraf El-Shami, Vice President of the Petroleum Refining and Manufacturing Authority, Ayman Emara, Vice-President of the Petroleum Planning and Projects Authority, Engineer Walid Lotfy, President of Petrojet, and Ashraf Bahaa President of the Enppi company, as well as Gamal El-Qaraish, president of MIDOR, and engineer Mohamed Abadi, president of AMOC.