A few days before the global climate talks in Sharm El-Sheikh, a group of African energy senior officials stressed the necessity of unifying the African voice during COP27 to achieve climate justice, which would allow them to make effective use of their resources. In one way or another, the African energy sector leaders have expressed a common position that sees fossil fuels as necessary for expanding their economies.
Today, global energy security, especially in terms of oil and gas, is affected by several international events such as the repeated Coronavirus lockdowns, the Russian attack on Ukraine, and turbulences in global markets. Amid the world energy crunch and prospects of economic crises, Egypt is working on several levels to boost its production of hydrocarbon and green energy in order to contribute to providing a part of the world's energy demands and help its economy to navigates the looming international recession wave. Therefore, the Egyptian cabinet and the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (MoP) have been taking several steps in this regard helped by the reforms they implemented in the past few years.
Global Warming has become an issue threatening the existence of all living beings. Hence, many leaders across the globe have been directing their states to commit to climate action in order to face climate change. In this regard, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has issued directives to decrease emissions from the electricity sector by 33%, oil and gas by 65%, and transportation by 7%, inspiring the country to work hand in hand to achieve these goals. Accordingly, the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (MOP) has set natural gas as the first option in the energy transition to enable a safe transition with low-carbon emissions.
Over the past few years, Egypt has been working on its assets and potential to cope with global changes. Despite challenges like the Coronavirus and the Russian attack on Ukraine, the Egyptian oil and gas sector has proved worthy of investments as it has made worth-noting achievements thanks to the efforts exerted to develop this sector.
Since the Russian-Ukrainian crisis started, Europe has been looking for alternative supplies for Russian oil and gas. Egypt is one of the recommended countries to be part of the solution. Not only due to having amounts of natural gas for exports, but also because of its efforts in developing the needed infrastructure for exports. During the past eight years, Egypt exerted big efforts to improve its pipeline infrastructure, especially those that connect the country to the other world countries.
Russia is a key player in the global energy markets and one of the top oil producers in the world. Since the beginning of its attack on Ukraine, the oil and gas markets have gone through a new wave of uncertainty and destabilization. The news of the war has sent the world’s inflation higher and took oil and gas prices to unprecedented levels since 2014. The attempts by European countries and the U.S. to punish Russia through sanctions including measures against the oil and gas sector have doubled the worries about supply and prices.
Capacity building as well as developing effective and efficient human resources were on top of Egypt’s agenda while preparing for vision 2030. In this regard, the Egyptian government is undertaking a series of investments, capacity building, and training programs which were closely followed up by the political leadership.
While vying for significant economic reforms, Egypt set a target to fulfill sustainable development goals (SDGs). For both ends, the country launched in 2016 its long-term strategic plan, “Egypt Vision 2030”, which aims to meet SDGs goals in all fields, including the energy sector. Energy is the second pillar of the vision that aims to provide energy needs while maximizing the efficiency of the various traditional and renewable energy resources.
Cairo, March 14, 2022 – Methanex Corporation Senior Vice President Brad Boyd today met with H E Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla. The meeting was attended by Mohamed Shindy, Methanex Egypt Managing Director, Eric Oechslin International Labor Organization Cairo Office Director and representatives of the ILO and the Canadian Embassy in Cairo. The meeting was held to celebrate the most recent milestone of the Methanex-ILO Project ‘Decent Jobs for Egypt’s Young People – Tackling the Challenge Together in Damietta’ – a protocol agreement held with the Chamber of Food Industries of the Federation of the Egyptian Industries, providing Training for Employment to 100 young women and men from Damietta, to be employed by food enterprises in the Governorate of Damietta.
Pursuing a career in the oil and gas industry might seem challenging to women. The industry is known as male-dominated because of the weak representation of women, who also might find it difficult to get promoted as they were subject to the social paradigms that limit women to their role as caretakers of households and unable to be flexible with the work conditions of the sector. However, today, many cases proved that women are up to the challenging circumstances of the energy industries as their inclusion brings benefit to the institutions, they are part of.
