Midor signs $1.2 loan agreement with 3 international banks

CAIRO – 31 October 2018: Middle East Oil Refinery Company (Midor) signed a loan agreement worth $1.2 billion with a consortium of three international banks, Ministry of Petroleum stated Wednesday, Oct. 31.

The ministry clarified that the consortium included Credit Agricole, BNP Paribas and Italy’s CDP, noting that the aim of the agreement is to finance the expansion project of Midor finery in order to increase its refining capacity by 60 percent. According to the ministry, the expansion project costs $2.3 billion.

The National Bank of Egypt and National Bank of Abu Dhabi are the financial advisors of the project, the ministry's statement read.

“The expansion of the Midor refinery comes within the framework of the Ministry of Petroleum's strategy to develop and increase the capacities of refineries and work to increase the quantities of petroleum products,” Minister of Petroleum Tarek el-Molla said after signing the agreement.

Molla added that the expansion project will raise the produced quantities of the refinery to 7.6 million tons from the current 4.6 million tons, and it will also contribute to achieving self-sufficiency of petroleum products in line with the state's national project to make Egypt a regional center for trading oil and gas.

Furthermore, the project will produce high quality products according to the international standards, which contributes to the provision of dollar liquidity through exporting the international standard (Euro-5) products, the minister added.

He pointed out that ENPI and Petrojet companies will receive 50 percent of the components for this project in the framework of maximizing the local component in the major oil projects in order to maximize the capabilities and capacities of Egyptian oil companies.

For his part, Italian Ambassador to Egypt Giampaolo Cantini said that this agreement is one of the most important projects developing the capacity of Egyptian refining and supporting the presence of Italian companies and their participation in contributing to the development of the great potential possessed by Egypt in the oil and gas sector.

Cantini added that the Italian companies aim to play a vital role in the project to transform Egypt into a regional center for the trade and circulation of oil and gas, which has a positive impact on securing the energy supplies of the European Union and supports the possibilities of joint cooperation between the two countries.

Molla previously said that Egypt is working to become a regional center for trading energy in the Eastern Mediterranean region during the upcoming period through the exploitation of its strong infrastructure.

He noted that EU is Egypt's first trading partner and investor, and that there are great opportunities for joint cooperation.

These statements came after the minister’s announcement that Egypt achieved self-sufficiency of gas in September after receiving its last shipments of imports a week before.