The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (MoPMR) launched an ambitious strategy starting in 2016 to develop the performance of the petroleum refining industry and increase production capacities of petroleum and petrochemical products.
The ministry’s strategy took into account the addition of new entities, energies and capabilities, which resulted in the operation of eight projects in the field of oil refining and manufacturing, as well as refinery expansions, at a total investment cost of more than $5 billion.
Based on the success achieved, the country implemented and is accelerating new refining projects with investments of about $7.5 billion, and their operation will be completed successively.
The most important of these projects are the expansion project of the Midor refinery in Alexandria. Its first and second phases have been completed and started operating experimentally. The important projects also include the diesel production complex at ANOPC in Assiut and the expansions of the Suez Oil Processing Company (SOPC), represented by the coking and diesel production complex. This is in addition to the condensate distillation project at the Nasr Petroleum Company in Suez; and the air distillation project at the Assiut oil refinery.
In terms of maximizing the added value of natural resources, the petroleum sector development and modernization strategy was keen to update the national plan for the petrochemical industry.
The local production of petrochemical materials exceeded 4.3 million tons annually by the end of the fiscal year 2021/22, doubling compared to about 2.1 million tons in 2015/16. This reflects the development witnessed by this vital industry as well as the positive impact of the expansions and the new complex that were added in 2016 and 2017 with total investments of about $4 billion. These complex projects are the MOPCO complex in Damietta and Ethydco project in Alexandria.
Currently, the sector is accelerating the implementation of new projects with investments of $1.4 billion, including the construction of medium-density fiberboard (MDF) in Idku; the two complexes for the production of soda ash (sodium carbonate) and silicon and its derivatives in New Alamein City; and the methanol and bioethanol derivatives projects in Damietta.
