Consumption of 95-octane fuel increases to 350-400 tons per day

CAIRO – 2 May 2018: The consumption of high quality 95-octane fuel has increased to around 350-400 tons daily, a source in the petroleum sector said on Wednesday.

He said that consumption of 95-octane gasoline before the recent hikes in fuel prices in June 2017 did not exceed 150 tons daily.

He said that the new 95 Super Plus petrol that was offered at several stations in February has helped in the increased consumption.

Sold at LE 6.6 per liter (around $0.4), the same price as the regular 95 fuel, the new gasoline was developed to keep abreast of the latest technological advances in modern car engines, according to Petroleum Minister Tarek el-Molla.

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.

A fresh round of fuel subsidy cuts is expected by the beginning of fiscal year 2018/19, which will start in July.

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.

Egypt targets producing 3.113 million tons of gasoline, 6.603 million tons of diesels, 481,000 tons of butane gas and some 1.438 million tons of jet fuel over the next four years.