Arabian Cement Company (ACC) announced Thursday it has inked an agreement with the Egyptian Refining Company (ERC) to provide local petroleum coke with an annual volume of 300,000 tones.

“This agreement aligns with Arabian Cement Company’s efforts to reduce production costs, highlights its leading role in implementing projects and signing agreements with key industry partners, as well as improves the operational performance of the company by diversifying energy resources,” said ACC CEO Sergio Alcantarilla.

ACC is one of Qalaa Hldgs, a Private investment management company, which also signed another agreement with Suez Cement Company to supply around 200,000 tons of pet coke annually.

Late last week, Qalaa Hldgs has announced that its share in ERC was alleviated to 13.14 percent following the latest funding round in May.

The investment company reduced its 19 percent stake after co-owners Qatar Petroleum and Egypt’s state-owned General Petroleum Company EGPC underwrote $ 192 mln in additional equity for the $ 4.4 bln refinery.

EGPC underwrote $ 50 mln of the $ 120 mln funding round in May, which included a $ 70 mln capital increase.

Qalaa is banking on ERC to boost the company's profitability and expected it to start generating income in July.