CAIRO, (The Southern African Times) – Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek Al-Molla announced on Monday that his country is implementing new petroleum refining projects with investments amounting to 7 billion U.S. dollars.
Al-Molla’s announcement came during a meeting with several petroleum refining companies to approve their budgets for the 2021-2022 fiscal year, the ministry said in a statement.
“Refineries play an important role in meeting the needs of the local market of petroleum products,” the minister said, noting that developing the refineries using the latest technology is one of the ministry’s priorities.
Al-Molla also stressed the importance of carrying out existing projects according to the timelines the ministry planned, which is crucial for Egypt to achieve the goal of self-sufficiency in gasoline and diesel by 2023.
Cairo aspires to become a regional hub for the trade of oil and liquefied natural gas after major discoveries in recent years, including the Zohr gas field in the Mediterranean that holds an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of gas.
