4 int'l companies compete for petrochemical complex project in SCZone

CAIRO - 24 August 2022: Four international companies have been qualified for the second phase of the tender for the petrochemical complex project “Anchor Benitoite”, which is being implemented by “Anchorage Investments” in the Suez Canal Economic Zone, with investments exceeding $2 billion.

 

The list of qualified companies included Italy's Technip Energy, Spain's Tecnicas Reunidas, Samsung Engineering Ltd. and Hyundai Engineering and Construction from South Korea.

 

“The companies were qualified for the final stage of the tender based on their previous work and global experience,” Founder and Managing Director of Anchorage Investments, Ahmed Muharram stated.

 

The final stage of the tender will be the selection of the general contractor to oversee the implementation of the project, according to a statement from Anchorage Investments on Wednesday.

 

The project is expected to be completed within three years after the completion of the engineering and design works.

 

Egypt is implementing several projects in the petrochemical sector, including the methanol derivatives project in Suez with investments of $119 million, and the Egyptian bio-ethanol project with investments of $112 million.

 

This is in addition to the project of the Red Sea Petrochemical Complex in Ain Sukhna, with investments of $7.5 billion; which aims to add 3.7 million tons annually to the petrochemical production capacity, and the El Alamein Petrochemical Complex with investments of $8 billion and a production capacity of 4.7 million tons annually.

 

Egypt's exports of petrochemicals and fertilizers

 

Egypt's exports of petrochemicals, chemicals and fertilizers jumped by 45 percent, to reach $6.7 billion, in 2021.

 

The Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, said in February that the petrochemical, chemical and fertilizer industries had benefited greatly from the availability of natural gas - the main entrance to these industries - during the last period, which was positively reflected on the rise in their exports during 2021.

 

Molla  called on the private sector to increase its participation in the investment opportunities provided by the petrochemical industry, and the added value it achieves.

 

Petrochemical sector revenues
 

The production of the petrochemical sector in Egypt reached 3.34 million tons during the fiscal year 2020/2021, achieving a revenue growth of 50 percent on an annual basis, according to data from the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.

 

Egyptian exports of chemicals witnessed an annual growth of 11 percent on average during the period (2015-2020), with the value of exports increasing from $3.1 billion in 2015 to $5.2 billion in 2019, while it declined by 11 percent in 2020 to reach $4.7 billion due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on trade.