Petroleum Minister Tarek El-Molla delivers a speech before the House of Representatives, 31 January (photo courtesy of Khaled Mashaal)
Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum Tarek El-Molla said on Sunday that the total investments of the petroleum sector have amounted to EGP 1.18 trillion between 2014 and 2020.
In a speech before the House of Representatives on the accomplishments and goals of the petroleum and mineral resources sector, El-Molla said the state has constructed projects worth EGP 764 billion in the petroleum sector over the past six years.
He added that the projects underway cost EGP 270 billion and other future plans are estimated at EGP 144 billion.
The petroleum sector contributed 24 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the fiscal year 2019/2020, El-Molla said.
In 2018/2019, Egypt achieved a surplus for the first time in the petroleum trade balance valued at EGP 9.9 billion, the minister said, adding that the surplus in the first quarter of 2020/2021 is estimated at EGP 3.7 billion.
Egypt’s arrears to foreign oil companies decreased by 87 percent from 2013 to reach $850 million at the end of June 2020, despite the repercussions of the pandemic, El-Molla said. The arrears recorded $6.3 billion in 2011/2012, Reuters reported.
The minister also referred to a number of geological and geophysical projects that helped attract foreign investments and international companies.
In the field of refining and petrochemicals, Egypt has put a comprehensive strategy for the petrochemical industry until 2024, in cooperation with major international specialised companies, the minister added.
Natural gas
El-Molla said Egypt has saved EGP 35 billion over the past five years by converting thermal power stations to run on natural gas instead of diesel fuel or Mazut.
He affirmed that Egypt has reached self-sufficiency in natural gas consumption in 2018 and has resumed natural gas export after being one of the largest importers of liquified gas between 2015 and 2017.
Hence, Egypt has ranked second in Africa in terms of natural gas production and has leapt from 18th worldwide in 2015 to 13th in 2019, El-Molla said.
The minister said 20 projects worth EGP 390 billion over the past few years have been implemented to develop gas fields.
In August 2019, Egypt registered a record production of crude oil and natural gas at 1.9 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day, El-Molla added.
The boe is a unit of energy that indicates the energy released by burning one barrel of crude oil.
Though Egypt has reached self-sufficiency in natural gas consumption, it still imports gas from Israel and Jordan to liquefy and export it as a form of trade, El-Molla added.
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