Egypt to expand petrochemical projects: Min.

CAIRO – 28 February 2018: Egypt will see an expansion in petrochemicals projects over the coming period, Petroleum Minister Tarek el-Molla said Wednesday.

He said that the petrochemicals industry allows Egypt to fully utilize its gas and petrol resources and contributes positively to Egypt’s economy, and that Egypt has the necessary potentials to expand its production of petrochemicals on which many industries are based.

Molla was speaking at the meeting of the general assembly of the Egyptian Linear Alkyl Benzene Company (ELAB) to approve the company's 2017 activities.

Molla said that industrial safety and environment protection are on the top of the ministry's priorities and stressed on the importance of increasing the role of the petroleum sector in societal participation by developing areas surrounding petroleum projects.

Chairman of ELAB, Hisham Nour el-Din, said the company's Linear Alkyl benzene (LAB) production hit 116,000 tons in 2017, increasing by 16 percent.

LAB is the most common raw material in the manufacture of biodegradable detergents. It is produced using normal paraffins as a raw material. Normal paraffins are derived from straight run kerosene.

Nour el-Din said that his company succeeded in securing the local market’s needs of this product and export the rest, saying that export sales in 2017 stood at $101 million.

Molla said in January that the government will support state-owned companies working in the refining and petrochemicals sector to boost their production.

Egypt’s Petroleum Ministry aims to increase its annual production of gasoline, diesel, butane gas and jet fuel by 11.6 million tons in the next four years, at an investment of $8.3 billion, boosting total production to around 28.5 million tons, up from the current 16.9 million tons.

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.

Developing the petrochemical industry will result in an improvement in plastics industry, fibers industry and other related industries.

By 2020, Egypt plans to produce more than three million tons of chemical products, under a 20-year national plan, which involves a range of products from ethylene and polyethylene to olefins and aromatics.