Egypt to boost its petrol production by 11M tons in 4 years

CAIRO – 6 February 2018: Egypt’s Petroleum Ministry is planning to boost its production of gasoline, diesel, butane gas and jet fuel through the implementation of seven projects to develop and expand refineries, with LE 8.3 billion investments, an official source at the petroleum sector said Tuesday.

The seven projects would add 11.6 million tons of petroleum products in the coming four years, the source said, adding that gasoline, diesel and butane gas production will be boosted by 3.11 million tons, 6.6 million tons and 481,000 tons respectively.

The plan further includes the production of 522,000 tons of gasoline from the Hydrogen Cracking of Mazut Complex at the Egyptian Refining Company (ERC) in Cairo’s Mostorod area, currently under construction, the source said.

Citadel Capital Chairman Ahmed Heikal said last week that the project, worth $4.2 billion of investments, is 96 percent complete, saying that it will be finished by June and that production is likely to start before the year end.

The project will save some $3 billion a year, Heikal said. The source said that the Hydrogen Cracking of Mazut Complex at the ERC will produce 2.25 million tons of diesel, 80,000 tons of butane gas and 600,000 tons of jet fuel.

A similar complex is being executed at Assuit refinery and is expected to operate in July 2021. The complex is set to produce 411,000 tons of gasoline, 2.8 million tons of diesel and some 110,000 tons of butane gas, the source said.

This comes as part of the ministry’s plan to expand and develop refineries to boost domestic production of petroleum products, with the aim of filling the gap between production and consumption.

The plan includes expanding and developing plants at the Egyptian Refining Company, Alexandria National Refine & Petrochemical (ANRPC), Assiut Oil Refining Co. (ASORC), Alexandria’s Middle East Oil Refinery (MIDOR) and Suez Oil Processing Co.

As part of Egypt’s reform program, the government had slashed fuel subsidies three times since 2014. The last increase was in June 2017, when the government hiked fuel prices by up to 50 percent.

The price of 92-octane gasoline had increased to LE 5, from LE3.5 pounds per liter, Diesel and 80-octane, the most commonly used fuel, rose to LE 3.65 pounds per liter from LE 2.35, while cooking gas cylinders’ prices increased to LE 30, from LE 15 per cylinder.