Petroleum Minister Discusses Constructing Oil Refinery in Equatorial Guinea

Tarek El Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, received Gabriel Obiang Lima, Minister of Minerals and Hydrocarbons of Equatorial Guinea to discuss support for cooperation between the two countries within the framework of Egypt's current trend towards increasing and strengthening cooperation with African countries.

During the talks, El Molla stressed the importance of supporting and strengthening Egyptian cooperation with African countries, and that the petroleum sector is ready to transfer the experiences gained by Egyptian companies in various fields of oil and gas, especially in technologies for converting cars to work with compressed natural gas, as well as training technicians in this field in addition to providing all aspects of Support for the development of gas infrastructure projects in Equatorial Guinea.

He pointed out that during the meeting, they discussed the procedures for activating the memorandum of understanding that was signed with Petrojet to implement new petroleum projects in Equatorial Guinea, foremost of which is the project to establish a new refinery.

Lima expressed his country's strong desire to benefit from the Egyptian expertise, especially in the field of transporting liquefied gas from its production places in the capital of Equatorial Guinea via specialized marine tankers, as well as studying the possibility of converting a cement factory in Guinea to work on natural gas, which requires bringing in experts and technicians from Egypt to operate and manage the plant during The coming period, noting that during his visit to Egypt, it is scheduled to complete all agreements and memoranda of understanding with Petrojet to reach a final agreement to implement the refinery.

Lima affirmed his country's desire to seek the assistance of Egyptian petroleum services companies due to its great experience in managing and operating projects.

During the meeting, they discussed the conditions of the global oil and gas markets, the current changes they are witnessing, and the challenges facing the producing countries, in addition to the preparations for the COP27 Global Climate Summit, which Egypt will host next November.

The world is concerned with climate change, energy transformation efforts and environmental preservation, pointing to the continuation of efforts to prepare for the Egyptian initiative to develop the energy transformation in Africa in cooperation with African ministries and institutions, to be launched during the summit.

Lima added that African countries need to attract investments in the field of oil and gas during the transitional period until the full energy transformation towards new and renewable energies, stressing the importance of benefiting from the resources of the African continent before heading towards the energy transformation that the developed countries are currently calling for.

It is worth noting that Egypt and Equatorial Guinea are members of the Organization of African Petroleum Producing Countries (OAP) and the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, and there are many topics of interest to the two countries that are discussed and coordinated during the meetings of the two organizations regarding common issues in the field of oil and gas.