El Molla: Preparations under way to construct Mazut storage depots

CAIRO - 31 December 2018: Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Tarek el Molla on Monday said that preparations are under way to establish heavy fuel oil (Mazut) storage depots, in collaboration with Saudi oil giant Aramco.

This is the first time that Egypt receives and stores oil products of other companies, el Molla added, pointing to a projected increase in the number of diesel fuel storage warehouses, in cooperation with the Saudi company in the Sidi Kreir area.

He made the announcement during an expanded meeting with the Oil Ministry's undersecretaries and chairmen of holding companies.

During the meeting, the minister reviewed positive results yielded since the start of a project to develop the oil sector, said a statement by the Petroleum Ministry.

Among those results were the state's success in achieving self-sufficiency of natural gas, in addition to executing several oil refining projects, which contribute to boosting the country's production of oil products, the statement added.

Also, he touched on executive steps taken by the ministry, as part of a national project to turn the country into a regional power hub, citing the completion of basic infrastructure for that purpose.

The minister noted that the oil sector's companies had resumed Mazut supply of ships, as well as developing Al Hamra Petroleum Port and implementing new depots at the harbor for absorbing large quantities of crude oil.

At the end of the meeting, el Molla thanked all staffers at the oil sector for outstanding results attained in different oil activities in 2018, urging them to do their utmost in 2019, so that the oil sector will remain a mainstay of the country's economy.