Cairo – July 15, 2024: Egypt plans to pump around $2 billion into new projects around energy consumption efficiency by the end of the year, and intends to decrease carbon emissions by 2.5 million tons annually by 2030, alongside of expanding the country’s oil and gas exploration efforts, according to newly-appointed Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Karim Badawi.
Speaking at a parliamentary committee meeting yesterday, Badawi unveiled ambitious plans for Egypt's energy sector, highlighting significant investments aimed at enhancing energy efficiency, curbing carbon emissions, and expanding the country’s oil and gas exploration.
Badawi also emphasized that these efforts are pivotal to Egypt's sustainable development strategy, reflecting a proactive stance on climate action and energy transition.
The petroleum minister highlighted several challenges that the ministry faces in funding these projects, elaborating on potential strategies while stressing the importance of collaboration with various entities to secure concessional financing from international financial institutions.
Egypt is looking into leveraging unconventional sources such as carbon credits to supplement traditional funding avenues, he added.
Badawi also revealed that Egypt is planning to expand in its oil and gas exploration efforts with a potential $1.2 billion investment to drill 110 exploratory gas and oil wells during FY2024/2025.
Looking ahead, by 2030, Egypt aims to drill a total of 586 exploratory wells with an investment totaling $7.2 billion.
"We are also launching international bids through the Egypt Exploration and Production Gateway, which focuses on making data on new areas of exploration available digitally to partners throughout the year," he said.
In line with Egypt’s commitment to sustainable development, Badawi highlighted the ministry's focus on integrating environmental considerations into its operations, including initiatives to increase natural gas production, which plays a crucial role in diversifying the national energy mix and reducing reliance on less sustainable energy sources.
The minister also outlined plans to expand Egypt's petrochemical industry, utilizing existing facilities, exploring new avenues to maximize production efficiency, to optimize production capacities and increase export volumes of petroleum products.
This is within the government’s goal to strengthen Egypt's role as a regional energy hub and boost exports.
"We plan to increase Egypt’s exports of petroleum products from refining and petrochemical projects to reduce the trade deficit and reach export values of $8.6 billion," he explained.
Egypt’s current production from oil and natural gas fields fell by 25 percent over the past 3 year, Badawi noted, with the value of overdue payments to foreign partners rising. The minister explained that this led to slower exploration and development, requiring imports to meet production and consumption demands.
The petroleum ministry is working on maximizing consumption efficiency and increasing production system efficiency to reduce the cost per barrel, Badawi explained, noting that this would create a more sustainable investment environment for partners and investors.
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