The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources announced that Egypt’s domestic consumption have decreased 5% in one year, Al-Ahram reported.

This came as Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, chaired the general assemblies of the petroleum public sector to accredit the portfolio of fiscal year (FY) 2018/19, beginning with the general assembly of Petrogas and Cairo Petroleum Refinery Company (CORC).

Chairing the Petrogas’s general assembly, El Molla underscored the continued support of the petroleum ministry to efforts aimed at supplying the domestic market with oil products, highlighting the new projects currently being implemented at refineries aimed at increasing petroleum products’ local production and reducing the import bill, which further helped in satisfying the domestic needs and rationalizing consumption.

The company’s results that were reviewed showed that 319 million cylinders were transported through 49 filling stations. Moreover, butane was transported by 27 tractors, 10 trailers of 900 loaders.

Over the past year, four million new butane cylinders have been pumped into the market, whereas both domestic production and imports have amounted to about 4 million tons. The amount of imported butane decreased by 15%, while domestic production increased by 8.5%.

The minister said that the use of natural gas expanded locally in homes and retail stores after the new pricing indexation mechanism, which contributed to the relatively low consumption rates of butane, reaching 5.4% during 2019.

The stability of the petroleum products market reflects the sector’s commitment to fulfill its role in providing the country’s petroleum products’ needs. The success of the integrated non-traditional measures in supporting the provision of the cooker system and achieving the stability of the past four years and improving services rendered to citizens.