An official source at the Petroleum Ministry said the cement plants consumed 77 percent of the mazut and gas in January and February 2014.
The source added that factories in Egypt depend totally on natural gas and fuel oil, contrary to the factories in Europe, Canada, the United States and Asia that use other sources as well.
“Terrorists blew up the gas pipeline in Sinai three times during those two months,” he said. “The production of the cement plants was stopped for more than 35 days.”
Khaled Abdel Badie, chairman of the Holding Company for Natural Gas, said cement plants have a third priority after the electricity and fertilizer plants. “We allow private sector companies to import natural gas directly but nobody ever did,” he said.