Japan’s Toyota Tsusho explores investment in Egypt’s petrochemical sector

CAIRO – 1 May 2018: Japan’s Toyota Tsusho Corporation discussed with Egypt’s Petroleum Ministry on Tuesday the available investment opportunities to increase the company’s investments in the country in the refining and petrochemicals fields, a statement from the petroleum ministry said.

This came during a meeting between Toyota’s general manager for energy projects and Petroleum Minister Tarek el-Molla, along with other ministry’s officials.

During the meeting, both sides reviewed a petrochemical and refining project that is currently being studied, where both sides agreed to conduct more studies on the project.

The meeting also discussed the possibility of Toyota’s participation in the Hydrogen Cracking of Mazut Complex project at the Assuit refinery, which is set to be executed at investments of $1.9 million.

The meeting also reviewed the status of the $600 million agreement signed between the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), Ganoub El Wadi Petroleum Holding Company (Ganope) and Toyota to purchase an offshore drilling rig capable of operating in deep water.

The agreement stipulates that the project will be implemented in three stages starting with the preliminary study stage followed by the project development stage.

Egypt’s petroleum ministry has put a 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.

Toyota Tsusho is also participating with a consortium to construct a 250 MW wind farm in Ras Ghareb, near the western shore of the Gulf of Suez. The farm will be connected to the national electricity grid experimentally by mid 2019.