Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced Saturday that Egypt is aiming to achieve self-sufficiency in petroleum during fiscal year 2022-2023.
His remarks came during press statements made at the inauguration of several national projects in Alexandria.
Madbouly explained that Egypt has a vision to possess its own capacity and meet all the needs of its citizens, especially within the oil and mineral resources sector.
Up until recently Egypt used to import most of these products, he said, adding that now “Our goal with these mega projects is to reach self-sufficiency in products and import only crude oil, in addition to expanding all joint investment contracts.”
And Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek al-Molla stated that Alexandria Governorate seen as one of Egypt’s oil strongholds.
Egypt contains 12 oil refineries distributed in major regions, the most important of which are in Alexandria, he said, holding 45 percent of Egypt’s refining capacity.
During the inauguration Molla said that in 2016 Egypt imported three million tons of benzene, and currently only imports 1.5 million tons thanks to several projects that have been implemented during the past three years.
According to the Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ministry, Egypt’s production of gas amounts to more than seven billion cubic feet per day and 650,000 barrels per day of crude oil.
The ministry also aims to raise the country’s production of crude oil and condensates during the current fiscal year to 34.65 million tons, an increase of 11 percent compared to the last fiscal year.
Since the beginning of this year, the Petroleum ministry has signed nine agreements for oil and natural gas exploration and exploitation in the Mediterranean and Western Sahara with several international petroleum companies, at a minimum investment of US$ 452.3 million to drill 38 wells.
