Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla received the new Japanese Ambassador in Cairo Oka Hiroshi where they discussed bilateral cooperation, climate change challenges, the global trend towards clean energy, and the current global price levels.

This comes in light of the great interest of Japanese companies to participate in these fields in Egypt, as well as reviewing Egypt’s preparations to host the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh.

During the meeting, El Molla highlighted the continuous and constructive cooperation of the petroleum sector with Japanese companies, especially in the field of modern technologies for the oil and gas industry, in light of the distinguished expertise possessed by Japanese companies in this field.

The minister stated that a roadmap is currently being prepared to establish a system for managing energy efficiency in the petroleum sector in cooperation with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the European Union (EU). This is in addition to efforts to evaluate opportunities for producing blue ammonia in Egypt in light of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) recently signed between the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), the Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Company (ECHEM), and Toyota. Moreover, the parties are evaluating the opportunities for applying the carbon capture, storage and use processes, which the two Japanese companies, Toyota and Mitsubishi, have shown great interest in participating in.

Egypt is ongoing with the energy transition by expanding the uses of natural gas as a transitional fuel with environmentally friendly characteristics, El Molla said.

The minister said that a national strategy for using hydrogen as a clean fuel is currently being prepared in partnership with all concerned ministries. He also referred to the initiative launched by the East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF) recently to supply ships with liquefied gas as an alternative to conventional fuel as one of the effective means to reduce emissions.

The Egyptian oil and gas sector enjoys distinguished investment opportunities and many areas for the growth of activities and fields of work in the oil and gas industry between the two sides, El Molla noted.

Meanwhile, Hiroshi highlighted the importance of cooperation between producing and consuming countries and achieving balance in prices in a way that benefits all parties, pointing out that the relations between Egypt and Japan are historic. He stated that his country looks forward to deepening cooperation with Egypt in all fields of energy in light of the investment opportunities it enjoys. Hiroshi noted that Egypt has become a destination for the investments for many international companies, especially in light of the recent successes.