Egypt Reveals Progress in Energy Efficiency During EPEEC 2019

Egypt Reveals Progress in Energy Efficiency During EPEEC 2019

The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources launched on April 22, with the presence of H.E. Minister of Petroleum, Eng. Tarek El-Molla, the second edition of the Egyptian Petroleum Sector Energy Efficiency Conference (EPEEC 2019) under the theme ‘From Success to Sustainability’ at the Sky Resort in New Cairo. The two-day event discussed the ministry’s energy efficiency program, the 4-B pillar of the petroleum sector’s Modernization Project.

Road to EPEEC

The Modernization Project resulted in the establishment of a complete database for rationalizing energy consumption, which identified 25 consumption-intensive companies, accounting for nearly 92% of the total consumption. Many procedures were taken to implement low-cost projects in 13 consumption-intensive companies, which decreased consumption levels by around EGP 350 million.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has supported energy efficiency projects in Suez Oil Processing Company with investments of $250 million as well as granting a study for energy efficiency and value-added projects to be implemented in the Alexandria Petroleum Company (APC). Moreover, around 860 houses in the Egyptian countryside have successfully reduced energy consumption by around 3,000 Megawatt (MW) per year.

Earlier in February 2015, a higher committee was formed with the aim to achieve energy efficiency across the sector and meet the country’s energy needs. The program was selected later in 2017 as a pillar to improve the efficiency levels under the ministry’s supervision. In 2018, the General Committee for energy and climate was formed to settle on energy efficiency policies and strategies.

Keynote Speech

The conference began with a short video highlighting the Modernization Project’s efforts done in line with Egypt’s 2030 Vision and the Egypt’s 2035 Energy Strategy. In the video, the words of president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and minister El Molla showed how Egypt can reshape its energy scene and invest in new projects to achieve efficiency.

El Molla subsequently delivered a speech in which he praised the sector’s experts, international oil companies (IOCs), national oil companies (NOCs), and international financial organizations for participating in the conference.

El Molla stressed the importance of achieving energy efficiency as one of the main pillars to accomplish the sector’s development as “people’s lives depend mainly on the provision of the needed energy resources,” he said

Furthermore, the government has exerted many efforts to achieve security, as well as political, economic, and legislative stability, which had a strong impact on enhancing the investment climate in Egypt. “Over the past two years, the petroleum sector has used a new strategy that comes in line with the country’s comprehensive development plan to maximize outcomes and develop assets and natural resources,” he noted.

“The 4-B pillar, under the umbrella of the Modernization Project, achieved several accomplishments during the past two years,” El Molla added. The program has achieved energy-consumption savings of around EGP 348 million by applying low-cost measures in 13 companies, establishing a structural system through the ministry’s General Committee for energy and climate efficiency.

“Many workshops were also organized by the program to spread awareness about energy efficiency, in cooperation with many international financial institutions like the World Bank (WB), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the EBRD, and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA),” said the minister.

Additionally, a training plan containing 68 programs was prepared to be applied in five companies over a year and a half and it is expected that the number of trainees will reach 1,100. Moreover, many energy efficiency projects financed by the EBRD were executed in the Egyptian Natural Gas Company (GASCO) and the Suez Oil Processing Company with investments of around $450 million.

Concluding his speech, the minister pointed out the importance of establishing sustainable relations among IOCs, NOCs, and international financial organizations to achieve the targeted results of enhancing energy efficiency. “The conference, with all the experts participating, will have a great role in reaching promising results to achieve more growth and economic stability to build a brighter future. Therefore, efforts have to be concerted to agree on a program that includes all the sector’s companies to achieve the targeted energy efficiency levels,” El-Molla said.

Honoring Success in Energy Efficiency

The minister then awarded companies that exerted notable efforts to improve energy efficiency and achieve significant reduction in energy consumption through applying low-cost measures. The three winning companies were: firstly, Misr Fertilizers Production Companies (MOPCO), and its General Manager of Energy Development and Conservation, Mohamed El-Masry, received the award; secondly, ANRPC, and its Chairman, Mohamed Hassan, received the award; and thirdly, GASCO, and its Chairman, Yasser Salah El-Din, received the award.

Afterwards, Toshio Miuora, Executive Director of KBC Process Technology, said that his company is very proud of the partnership with the Egyptian petroleum sector. “Energy conservation was perhaps seen before as a business model, but it is a social responsibility for the world and the welfare of future generations. We are offering you a wealth of knowledge and experience that we have gained through our journey in supporting similar initiatives across the globe,” he added.

“Japan, as an example, has started the energy conservation journey in the 1950s, with the enforcement of the heat management act in 1978… Since then, the petroleum industry in Japan made huge tries to increase their energy efficiency. KBC has played a major role in supporting the transition in Japan… Looking forward, we are hoping to add the same value in the Egyptian petroleum sector,” said Miuora.

Organizers Display their Excellence

Engineering for the Petroleum and Process Industries (Enppi) and Petrojet were the event organizers, and in the opening speeches, they presented their success in achieving efficiency targets. Enppi was one of the first companies that led energy efficiency efforts across all of its operations, obtaining the ISO 50001 in 2013, said Alaa Khashab, Enppi Chairman Deputy and Managing Director. “Our policy is to encourage customers and contractors to commit to energy saving. In April 2013, Enppi formed a specialized department for energy management systems, and established the energy department in November 2013, with representatives from all departments to monitor and follow up on energy policies,” said Khashab.

Process simulation, increasing efficiency in operating cost management, and applying heating recovery systems in turbines are among the activities the company is undertaking to achieve its targets. Moreover, Enppi is working on enhancing energy saving in its buildings and operations by using solar panels and thermal insulation, providing trainings to engineers on modern energy-saving technologies, and applying these solutions based on their economic feasibility, noted the company’s Chairman Deputy.

“For example, we are working on the Dahshour project with GASCO. Applying heat recovery system for four existing turbines, and adding three new turbines. All of our projects now take energy efficiency into consideration. We are now partners with the Suez Oil Processing Company and Alexandria Petroleum Company,” Khashab added. He also said that Enppi have completed studies for technical and engineering services, project management, purchasing, and energy efficiency projects, and organized a number of training programs, in line with the 4-B pillar of the sector’s Modernization Program.

Meanwhile, Motaaz Khalel, Petrojet Chairman Assistant for Business Development, pointed in his speech that the world is now witnessing the fourth industrial revolution, in which technology is an inseparable part of our lives, from robotics, to artificial intelligence (AI), nanotechnology, Internet of Things (IoT), and other technologies.

“Technological innovation and modern solutions can help achieve sustainability, and enhance the level of efficiencies in entities and businesses, through better asset management and renewing the natural environment. Energy efficiency is one of the focus points worldwide, as many international companies began to include the role of energy efficiency and conservation manager within its top management jobs, as it has become a necessity from economic and environmental perspectives, and a main pillar of sustainable development. This importance is even greater in Egypt due to the rising population and the ambitious development programs, to increase returns and optimize usage,” Khalel added, noting that Egypt’s Vision 2030 and the Egyptian Energy Strategy for 2035 focus on improving energy efficiency as the foundation for economic and social development and sustainability.

Building on Previous Efforts

The event celebrated the sector’s energy efficiency achievements on the institutional structure front, from the establishment of the EECD in the Ministry of Petroleum in August 2018, to energy efficiency departments in the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and holding companies, 100 energy efficiency units across the sector’s companies, and an energy database. On the culture-change front, the ministry launched the first Energy Efficiency Conference and Exhibition in May 2018, which held eight energy-efficiency awareness sessions that were attended by 85 companies and around 234 employees and two energy efficiency workshops for the top management of the sector’s companies, in cooperation with the EBRD. The Ministry of Petroleum also introduced a long-term training plan that saw the implementation of 29 out of 68 training programs since November 2018.

Financing Energy Efficiency Projects

Following the inauguration of the conference and exhibition, the event’s first session was held under the title “Financing EE projects”. Yoshifumi Omura, Chief Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Egypt Office, delivered the first presentation, explaining that “JICA provides three tools to support the developing countries in achieving sustainable growth which are technical cooperation, soft loans, and grant aids.”

Meanwhile, JICA’s strategy in Egypt has three pillars, which are inclusive and sustainable growth, poverty reduction, and human resource development. “Renewable energy and energy efficiency have a high priority to JICA operations in Egypt, Omura noted.

“The energy sector represents the largest share of JICA’s portfolio here in Egypt,” according to Omura. The agency has supported 17 concessional projects with more than $2 billion as well as “adopting a comprehensive approach combining technical assistance and financial assistance to help achieve energy efficiency,” Omura said.

In 2017 and 2018, JICA provided two knowledge-sharing programs in Japan, and during 2019 the agency has provided technical assistance. JICA is now studying providing financial assistance by 2020 to 2021. “During the last two years, we had many of exchanging programs with the Egyptian side,” he added. Additionally, “the Japanese companies have high standards of adopted technologies, so that it can assist reaching the targeted level of energy efficiency,” Omura pointed out.

The second presentation by Amr Salem, Associate Banker at EBRD, noted that investments since the bank’s establishment in 1991 have reached EUR 130 billion in more than 5,200 projects. Investments last year amounted to EUR 9.5 billion across 395 projects.

Salem noted that the role of the EBRD is different from commercial banks, which is why they  are not in competition. “In 2018, our top investee was Egypt, as we invested EUR 1.1 billion here. We expect that Egypt will remain our top investee in 2019,” he added.

“In Egypt, we are already engaged with the private sector and we engage as well with the public sector in three aspects, which are policy dialogue, technical assistance, and direct project finance,” Salem said.

EBRD has participated in implementing the new law regulating the gas market “to ensure that private sector will have access to the national transmission,” Salem added. Moreover, the EBRD is cooperating in modernizing the petroleum sector, through technical assistance in redesigning processes. Additionally, it is investing in achieving energy efficiency in Egypt’s refineries as it conducted a study from fiscal year (FY) 2016/17 to determine the required finance [to achieve efficiency goals],” Salem elaborated.

“The EBRD started to invest in the oil and gas sector in 2013, with investments of around $100 million, which reached $700 million in 2018 and we expect that our investments can reach $1 billion in the future,” he noted.

A third presentation was delivered by Dr. Hafez El-Salmawy, Professor of Energy Engineering at Zagazig University, representing the European Union (EU). “Any energy efficiency program usually includes several components, including benchmarking and awareness, financial mechanism (which is a core component), and also capacity buildings programs… So, for energy efficiency finance, it should be tackled by all of these areas in order to facilitate the finance,” he said.

El-Salmawy went on to describe the financial and legal challenges facing energy efficiency projects in Egypt. He explained that there is a lack of incentives for energy conservation projects and a shortage of alternative financial instruments for financing projects, as well as a lack of knowledge regarding the true risks of financing efficiency projects. Additionally, legal barriers could result from the absence of a legislation for energy efficiency, as the legal system suffers from complex and slow process for resolving legal disputes.

“Normally, we have several schemes for financing energy efficiency projects, including soft finance, third party finance, loan guarantees, financial derivatives, and regulatory measures,” El-Salmawy noted, adding that these funds can be national, regional or international, and they can be for “energy efficiency, clean energy, green economy, or mitigation of climate change.”

“Financing energy efficiency projects is subjected to the same rules for projects finance, yet enabling financial mechanisms is an essential component of a successful energy efficiency programs,” El-Salmawy pointed out.

Jean-Louis Morcos, Investment Officer at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), then focused on providing solutions for private sector development. “We work on a range of instruments as we do straight loans, equities or anything in between depending on the project. We are here to bridge a gap,” he explained.

For the upstream, midstream, and downstream in the oil and gas sector, the IFC has a very good experience across the whole value chain.. Yet, “since September 2017, our ability to finance upstream projects is limited because of the announced restrictions by the WB, but our projects worth $2 billion as we have 50 projects across 25 countries,” Morcos pointed out.

Despite focusing on the private sector, IFC also deals with the public sector. “For Egypt, we have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources,” he said. The MoU aimed to help Egypt be a regional hub, improve energy efficiency and environment type projects, and develop refineries.

Subsequently, Ahmed Taha, Manager of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Egypt unit, presented the GCF objective to ensure national ownership of projects, achieving a balance between mitigation and adaptation to the impact of climate change, diversifying accredited entities, and reaching equal decision-making between developing and developed countries.

“In Egypt, we do not have any accredited entities. So, GCF encourages the public and private sector to be accredited entities to benefit from GCF grants and loans,” Taha added.

“Egypt succeeded to get around $154.7 million from GCF for Benban project in Aswan that covers eight cities, which will reduce CO2 emissions by 16 million tons during the lifetime of the project,” he pointed out. GCF has many future steps to support the government agencies and private sector to apply for accreditation from GCF and communicate with banks that are interested in financing projects with environmental benefits. Additionally, “we are preparing a workshop to show how different entities can benefit from GCF,” Taha noted.

Energy Efficiency Optimization and Integration

The second session focused on energy efficiency optimization and integration.

Discussing why energy efficiency matters, Stuart Shaw, Vice President Operations at BP Egypt, recalled how the perspective on efficiency has developed in the sector compared to the time when he started his career as a young engineer in BP 20 years ago. He then went on to present his company’s achievements in the Egyptian market for over 55 years. “In the last four years, BP has invested $12 billion, which is more than anywhere else in the company’s portfolio,” he noted, adding that in the past two years, production has begun in four new gas projects that BP is working on in Egypt.

The West Nile Delta, Atoll, and Zohr, in which BP is a partner, are among the top projects that the company is working on. BP has also made a series of discoveries in recent years, including Satis and Qattameya, according to the company’s vice president.

“In addition to starting new projects and operating new assets, one of our objectives as we look forward in the future is to grow our production. Our plan is to triple net production from Egypt, compared to 2016, by 2020,” said Shaw.

BP is also growing its footprint across the industry, as BP’s Castrol announced the formation of a joint venture (JV) with TAQA Arabia, while Lightsource BP’s JV with Hassan Allam is working to unlock opportunities from solar energy in Egypt.

According to Shaw, the energy efficiency challenge can be seen in two points. First, the dual industry challenge of satisfying the increasing demand for energy while significantly reducing emissions. The second is improving business competitiveness by increasing operating efficiency and reducing operation costs.

That is why BP is deploying new technology in existing operations to reduce emissions and improve efficiency, and designing future operations for lower carbon emissions. Agility, mindset, and digital technologies are the three keys for modernizing and transforming the industry, Shaw explained.

In the following presentation, Azhari Dafaalla, Senior Process Consultant at KBC Process Technology, focused on the innovative integrated process and utility modelling approach. Improving asset performance, cost optimization, maximizing asset profitability, as well as safety and environmental performance for operating assets are among the top focus points for energy companies. Companies also look to increase efficiency gains in engineering and operations, adapting operational excellence programs, and using simulation as a means to drive decision support in operations. “Simulation is important because it eases decision making,” he explained.

Dafaalla went on to highlight the importance of the technical modeling approach integrating process and utility, and presented a case study of improved cooling water temperature that achieved a relatively small difference in energy, valued at $80,000 per year, and a big difference in process yields at $10.4 million per year.

Subsequently, Sonny Llave, Global Director at Technical Consulting and Digital Tools, Wood Automation and Control, talked about energy efficiency in design and operations, stressing the need for solutions and services at various stages in asset development, in design, execution, and operating, and the role played by digital solutions such as digital twins. “A digital twin is a virtual representation of an asset, used from early design through building and operations, maintained and easily accessible through its lifecycle,” he explained.

Onshore operations are becoming more receptive to the technology, as models utilized are more fit-for-purpose, with more openness for autopilot and control systems, according to to Llave. “The end goal is for reliable, repeatability, safe and optimized operations,” he concluded.

In the following presentation, Fred Kessler, Head of Ammonia and Urea Revamps at thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions (UHDE), showcased revamp concepts for Egyptian ammonia plants, noting that fertilizer production consumes almost 1.5% of the world’s total energy, since it is a an extremely energy intensive industry. Approximately 25 to 40 million metric British thermal units (MMBTU) are required to produce one ton of ammonia, the basis of almost all fertilizers in the world, he explained, noting that natural gas is the main feedstock to ammonia.

The total capacity of ammonia plants in the Nile Delta is approximately 17,000 tons per day, consuming 550,000 MMBTU/day, or 200 million MMBTU per year. The consumed natural gas is valued at $850 million a year, based on the MMBTU price of $4.5. Meanwhile, the production is valued at about $2 billion per year, Kessler explained, referring to the benefits of using natural gas in producing fertilizers.

Revamping ammonia plants could focus on energy savings, increasing production capacities, or environmental issues, such as the reduction of NOx, CO2, and dust, as well as water consumption, according to Kessler, who presented a general optimization case study for an ammonia plant with a capacity of 1,200 tons per day.

Moderate revamps of ammonia plants are relatively inexpensive, and plants that have not been revamped yet offer the most potential for low cost capacity increase, making the cost per ton even cheaper than new plants, said Kessler.

“A 6% reduction of energy consumed by all ammonia plants would save approximately 12 million MMBTU/year for ammonia production, which is the equivalent to about half the natural gas [supplied] to one combined-cycle power generation block,” Kessler indicated.

Kessler argued for exporting Egyptian natural gas in the form of fertilizers with the new discoveries in the Mediterranean Sea. The direct sale of natural gas to global markets brings quick money to Egypt at around $4.5 per MMBTU, while exporting urea could allow three times more money to flow into the country at $15 per MMBTU, as producing one ton of urea requires about $100 per ton of gas, according to Kessler.

Nicolas Menet, Digital Applications and Consulting Sales Manager at Axens, then presented the strategy for solid energy intensity reduction, presenting the steps for achieving higher margins especially in refineries, from data collection and planning, followed by audits and process review and assessment, to plant optimization and management with advanced and near real-time solutions. Axens focuses on quick wins or projects with a return on investment (ROI) of less than two years, and works to transfer knowledge to energy efficiency teams, he added.

Finally, Moataz Ebeid, Senior Manager Egypt and UAE at OSIsoft, discussed operational excellence and real-time data infrastructure, stating that his company is dealing with 80% of the top oil and gas companies globally, as well as more than 1,000 utilities, and eight of the global Fortune Top 10 companies in metals and mining, among other clients.

Ebied also pointed out that OSIsoft is the only software that provides single source of truth of data, collecting it from all sources regardless of the manufacturer of vendor and allowing clients to fully-own their data at all times.

Global Firms Showcase Modern Technologies

On the event’s second day, four sessions were held, led by a discussion on “Energy Efficiency Technologies.” In the session’s first presentation, Joan Sanroma, the Sales Director of KBC Process Technology, said that his company focuses on data services, expressing the keenness of his KBC to be a digital partner to companies working in the Egyptian petroleum sector.

The presentation illustrated how to distribute the needed energy throughout the process. Sites that operate complex energy systems face many challenges including complexity, price volatility, lack of real time data and reliable information, as well as some other ignored constraints, “therefore, you need to respect these constraints to generate the energy you need,” Sanorama explained.

“What we propose in KBC is a software called Visual MESA. We model your work-type and put it on real time basis, so that you will have a validated model about what is going on your system,” Sanroma pointed out. This technology defines specific set points and sends them to the operational system with the minimum cost, “so, the more optimization, the more energy saving can be achieved.”

Moreover, KBC has a co-pilot program. “Through this technology, we can digitalize your system and make your business more attractive,” Sanroma noted. As a result of the project, the information of the energy system will be organized into one real-time model and a single environment with an access for everyone. “After the project, we do not leave you alone. We provide model performance monitoring to review reports, answer questions, and solve problems,” Sanroma clarified.

The second presentation was made by Rania Fawzi, Trading and Products Management Team Leader at Korra Energi. She began the presentation by explaining that “Korra Energi provides compression packages, power generation and cogeneration, condensate fractionation, and gas processing and treatment as we believe in long win-win partnership.”

Turboden, which is 72% owned by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Group, presented a case study that aims to enable power production up to 20 megawatt (MW) per single turbine by recovering excess waste heats from hot stream in oil and gas sector. “The main idea is that we generate energy from waste. So, we have zero running cost, zero maintenance, and zero water as you improve sustainability from a waste source which increases efficiency levels,” she explained. Therefore, ORC technology can achieve flexibility, sustainability, and dependability.

Mohamed Bendary, Senior Process Engineer at Enppi, explained how distillation is the most widely used method for separating chemical components. “It is a very energy-intensive process in which the energy consumed represents 3% of the total world energy consumption… It represents around 40% of total energy consumption around the world in the process industries,” Bendary said.

Different studies were carried out for distillation separation to minimize energy consumption, one of them is the fully thermally coupled distillation column (FTCDC) which “proved to have the lowest energy consumption,” he added. FTCDC has been used by many contractors including BASF SE, Sasol, ExxonMobil and others in which “it was found that FTCDC managed to achieve energy saving by around 40%,” he further noted.

For the purpose of the economic evaluation, the equipment sizing has to be considered and it was performed using known sizing and rating software. “Any reduction in energy consumption not only provides economic benefits, but also reduces emissions associated with using fossil fuels,” he pointed out.

Ahmed Ali, Sales Manager of Pall Corporation, then focused on the importance of fluid cleanliness, as “it helps reduce operating and maintenance costs, which achieves energy saving,” Ali said. Fluid contamination control can minimize pressure drop consumption reduce pump power requirement, reduce steam/hot oil use, and prevent heat exchange fouling. That is why, “fluid contamination control can contribute to energy efficiency under Pall Corporation broad experience for improved equipment and asset protection.”

Finally, Ahmed Taha, Marketing Manager, Egypt and Levant Countries at Alfa Laval Middle East, presented the newest technologies in heat exchange systems. “We have a wide range of compact heat exchangers, which provide a solution for many customers’ problems, with a robust design built for tough conditions such in the oil and gas sector,” Taha said. Choosing the right heat exchanger will have a big impact on operating efficiency, according to him. Moreover, exchanging existing shell-and-tubes for compact heat exchangers is a good investment as it can increase the area’s performance, as well as maximize energy recovery and uptime with less maintenance.

“Since energy efficiency is a top priority for most plants, the compact exchange can save up to five times higher heat transfer in the exchanger and a higher heat recovery, compared to a shell-and-tube,” Taha explained. Accordingly, increasing heat recovery leads to saving fuel, debottlenecking, and increasing throughput. That is why, “using compact heat exchanger can minimize cost, improve reliability, and maximize production,” Taha noted.

Celebrating Success Stories in the Petroleum Sector

In the following session, success stories achieved by leading national companies were presented by GASCO, MOPCO, ANRPC, ETHYDCO, APRC, AMOC, and ELAB.

“Egypt was one of the countries that entered the Paris Climate Agreement, expressing commitment to reducing carbon emissions, and the petroleum sector was one of the pioneering sectors in realizing this session, especially through the Modernization Project, which included energy efficiency and optimization in its targets,” said the session’s moderator, Mohamed Ibrahim.

Achieving energy efficiency has to come from a commitment from the top management, which is why the energy committee in the Ministry of Petroleum has held multiple sessions for the management of the sector companies to raise their awareness of energy efficiency, as a step on the right way. “Today, I have with me seven companies working in the sector that have already energy savings through no and low-cost techniques, except for GASCO that may have applied medium cost techniques, Ibrahim added.

Presenting GASCO’s path into sustainability, Mohamed Fathy Tash, the company’s Energy Conservation Assistant Manager, said that his company has already established an energy management systems according to the ISO 50001 in nine sites, as well as environmental sustainability and energy conservation policy, noting that the policy will be applied in all of GASCO plants within two months. Saving around 19,114 megawatt-hour (MWh) by the company has resulted in reducing CO2 emissions by 3.4 million kilograms.

“GASCO’s policy is built on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Egypt’s Vision 2030, and the global standards to combat climate change,” according to the company’s Energy Conservation Assistant Manager. GASCO is also planning to start publishing a sustainability report in cooperation with the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS).

Meanwhile, Ahmed Hussien, Energy Efficiency Optimization Section Head at Misr Fertilizers Production Company (MOPCO), explained that MOPCO’s vision is to focus on energy saving as a sustainable improvement approach to increase profitability, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and exposure to energy price fluctuations. MOPCO was the first company in the energy efficiency project and the Egyptian fertilizer sector to obtain the ISO 50001 certificate in 2011.

The company’s efficiency policies have already achieved more than 64.5 million kilowatt per hour (KWh) and EGP 26 million every year in energy and cost saving, according to Hussien.

In the following presentation, Essam Kabbary, Utility General Manager and Energy Management Manager at ANRPC, displayed the company’s journey in implementing a SCADA system that helped efficiency goals, noting that ANRPC provides around 40% of Egypt’s gasoline production.

Similarly, Mohamed Hafez, Electric Department General Manager at Egyptian Ethylene and Derivatives Company (ETHYDCO), spoke about how implementing the energy saving project in the polyethylene plant led to ETHYDCO saving about 1,060 MW during Q4 2017, with an average saving of EGP 3.6 million per year.

Meanwhile, Mohamed Salem, R&D General Manager Assistant at Alexandria Mineral Oils Company (AMOC) told the story of how energy saving and power management led to an increase in production by 1% or 12,500 tons per year, increasing gross margin by $1 million annually.

Subsequently, Mohamed Abd Elmonem, Assistant General Manager at Amreya Petroleum Refining Company (APRC) showed through his presentation that APRC achieved sweet water saving worth EGP 16.6 million per year, demi-water saving at EGP 7.3 million, and fuel gas saving up to EGP 13.5 million, achieving a total of EGP 37.4 million per year in energy savings.

Mahmoud El Araby, Technology and Development General Manager at Egyptian Linear Alkyl Benzene (ELAB) also presented two case studies through which the company was able to reduce natural gas emissions by 450 normal meter cubed per hour (Nm3/hr), and the equivalent of 5,910 MMBTU of natural gas or $26,600 per year. Since ELAB started the Energy Conservation Program, it was able to achieve electricity savings up to $30,000 in three years, and $1.1 million in natural gas savings during the same period.

Energy Efficiency Framework and Policies

Azhari Dafaalla, Senior Process Consultant at KBC Process Technology, delivered a presentation about energy management in new projects design. “It is well-known that the cost of design is increasing during the project lifecycle and in KBC we always say that we need to avoid regretting investing in any equipment at any point of time,” Dafaalla said.

The new design management elements are to follow the project phases to ensure developing an energy efficient design, estimate the overall energy gap, and identify where and how this gap is generated. The new design management framework aims to “provide a framework for closing energy gaps through technical-economic evaluation during the design phases from project concept to plant operation,” Dafaalla explained. This framework will “generate an audit trail of the energy reviews undertaken during project development and operation, and clear corporate understanding of the new project’s energy performance,” he added.

Furthermore, Dafaalla mentioned the liquefied natural gas (LNG) Process New Projects Benchmarking that aims to “provide a tool to benchmark the energy performance of LNG plants.” This system helps determining targeted energy consumption during the conceptual phases and identify the gaps in subsequent phases.

Moreover, KBC has established Best Technology (BT) Energy Values that aim to “close the overall energy gap with identifiable energy saving features which can help the owner’s engineer to identify the energy causes and accept that some features of the proposed design deviate from the BT energy feature,” Dafaalla explained.

Vagn Jorgensen, Team Leader, Human Dynamics at the European Union (EU) then presented energy efficiency efforts in the EU, which started in 2012. “The EU targets to reduce CO2 by 20% by 2020, and increase energy efficiency by 20%. Also, by 2030, it targets reducing emissions by 40%, comparing to 1990,” Jorgensen said.

The EU has established an Emission Trading System (ETS) in 2005, which aims to “limit industries emissions, at first free credits issued, but being more limited and to be sold/bought via auctions if ceiling are reached high fines,” he explained.

From 2005 to 2007, it was the first trading period in which EU ETS was established as the world’s biggest carbon market, but the number of allowances turned out to be excessive. The second trading period, from 2008 to 2012, was when the number of allowances were reduced by 6.5%, but the economic downturn depresses emission and thus demand. After that, from 2013 to 2020, which marks the third trading period, the biggest changes have been introduced of an EU-wide cap on emissions which were reduced by 1.74% each year.

Afterwards, Berend Van Den Berg, Advisor at GGFR World Bank delivered a presentation about the new approach to enhance flare-gas to the market. “We have around 141 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas flared in 2017, which produce around 350 million tons of CO2 emissions annually,” Berg said. From 2013 to 2017, “Egypt had been ranked at the 14th top flaring country,” he added.

GGFR members worked on reducing flaring by around 45% reduction in flaring intensity since 1996. However, even if GGFR partner companies completely eliminate their flaring, “this would remove only around 20% of current global flaring,” Berg noted. Therefore, new approaches are required to address the remaining 80% of gas flaring.

In order to produce associated gas, it has to be considered that cost of producing associated gas is factored into crude oil production cost. In addition, “a country with non-associated gas reserves, such as Egypt, associated gas has to compete with a large scale non-associated gas.”

There are some hurdles in monetizing flare gas. In some countries, it is not clear who owns the associated gas that is flared or how to enter flare gas to the market. The price should be market-driven and not regulated. Additionally, there is a need to have accurate and relevant data to develop the baseline and identify the potential savings. That is why, “it is essential to implement a robust associated gas data management system for measuring associated gas volumes produced,” Berg noted.

The session continued with a fourth presentation by Marco Morando, Energy and Resource Efficiency Manager at Rina Consulting. According to satellite analysis estimates, Egypt ranks 11th among the top gas-flaring countries. Therefore, “capturing the 2 bcm of gas flared in the country could cover 5% of the national energy needs and add $300 million to the national economy,” Morando said.

Moreover, Egypt and the EBRD are part of the WB initiative ‘Zero Routine Flaring by 2030’. Accordingly, developing methodologies, procedures and rules for the monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) for flared gas became a necessity. “MRV provides information on quantities, energy content, and quality of flared gas,” he noted.

“The MRV methodology will be the first step for useful exploitation of an untapped resource in the country, thus contributing to the country’s economic benefit and mitigating climate change in the world,” Morando pointed out.

In a different tone, the session was concluded with a final presentation by Heba Kadry, Instruments and Control Engineering Specialist at Enppi, on the blockchain technology, which grabbed the attention of the world after the rise of the cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin.

“The major contribution of Bitcoin is the solution of how to establish trust between unrelated parties to secure transactions that can be performed,” Kadry said, going on to explain that blockchain is a database where various parties collect and circulate messages. “The data stored in blocks and each block is connected to the previous block using a distributed consensus algorithm,” she added. Under blockchain mechanism, there is no centralized authority as the users trust only the mechanism.

Blockchain provides solutions across the energy trilemma as “it reduces costs by optimizing energy processes, improves energy security, promotes sustainability, and enhances efficiency by significant distribution and transmission losses reduction,” Kadry explained.

Therefore, “blockchain is a foundational technology that will create foundations in the economic and financial system to revolutionize the business models,” she noted, adding that “Egypt has to take on a key role in blockchain technology to accomplish the country’s regional vision.”

Service Companies Adds to the Sector’s Accomplishments

EPEEC’s last session focused on energy services companies and institutes. “Basically we are an oil and gas company, but lately we started to explore the infrastructure market in Egypt and abroad,” said Sherif Deknawy, Area Manager at Petrojet, noting that since the establishment of Petrojet in 1975, the company has grown into a one-stop-shop for the construction of hydrocarbon, industrial and infrastructure projects.

“We are proud to say that Petrojet is among the top 250 construction companies in the world,” he added. Petrojet is highly committed to the standards of ISO 14001, aims at being certified with the ISO 50001, and has designed and built an innovative energy conserving headquarters building, according to Deknawy.

Likewise, Rami Ahmed, Process Engineer at Egyptian Projects Operation and Maintenance (EPROM) indicated that EPROM is the main EGPC consultant in the field of energy saving and assessment in Egypt, and has performed energy saving processes for APC and Cairo Oil Refining Company (CORC). EPROM introduced the first Egyptian energy-efficiency software for monitoring and troubleshooting performance of fired equipment.

The presentation then focused on the company’s Power and Energy Monitoring System (PEMS), which is an effective, fast, and easy tool for the evaluation of units’ energy consumption and usage, according to Ahmed.

Afterwards, Mohamed Swydan, Projects Manager at Korra-Energi discussed the approaches to flare gas recovery through transforming gas into power or into liquids, and then presented a case study of a BOO (build, own, operate) project carried out with Esh El Mallaha Petroleum Company (ESHPETCO), which helped the company meet its energy needs in time of crisis. The project, which was 15% financed by the EBRD, led to the reduction of CO2 emissions by 48,000 tons and decreased the company’s energy bill by 66% and increasing production by 11%.

Mervat Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Assistant General Manager for Energy Saving and Electrical and Supervisor for Design Department at the Egyptian Company for Energy and Cooling Projects (GasCool) then exhibited its portfolio of district cooling and power generation through various technologies, as Mervat explained how the company has established a number of solar systems in petroleum companies, noting that another BOO project with the General Petroleum Company (GPC) for a solar system is in one of the company’s pumps.

Gascool is also building a district cooling unit in the New Administrative Capital, which will be the biggest of its kind in Egypt with a 60,000 tons capacity, and the first in the country to use three different new technologies, namely absorption chillers, compression chillers and thermal storage tanks, as well as cooling towers. Finally, Ayman Abdelshafy, Electrical Engineering Specialist at Enppi, discussed the added value for integrating local power generation at petroleum facilities with the national grid, presenting a project that Enppi carried out with Ethydco, explaining that the advantages of grid connection vary from providing a backup source, to enhancing the stability of the power plant, and the ability to sell excess electricity.

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