Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources stated in a report that the current investments in new oil industry projects amount to roughly $7.7b, Egypt Oil&Gas reported. Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla affirmed that the implementation of the integral oil sector strategy includes investments in new refining projects and developing existing refining units. He added that these projects will contribute to raising efficiency and the refining capacity locally.

Currently, the projects that are being executed include a project for a new vapor recovery unit (VRU) of the Assiut Oil Refining Company (ASORC) for the production of 42,000 tons of butane gas and 356,000 tons of naphtha, annually, with investments worth $21m. A project for reforming naphtha using the catalytic reforming process and isomerisation to produce approximately 600,000 tons of gasoline and 40,000 tons of butane gas require investments of $350m, in addition to a project for the hydrocracking of diesel at ASORC. The ASORC projects that aim to produce 1.4m tons of diesel, 105,000 tons of butane gas, 389,000 tons of naphtha, 346,000 tons of coal, and 75,000 tons of sulphur, annually, with investments up to $1.6b.

The report also pointed out to the development of another project to establish a new VRU to produce 48,000 tons of butane gas, 80,700 tons of naphtha, and 71,400 tons of gases, annually, with investments worth $44m. In a series of projects that are being implemented is a project for a production unit of asphalt 60/70 to produce 396,000 tons of asphalt and 322,000 tons of dump fuel comes at the investments of roughly $50m.

In addition, the establishment of a unit for reforming naphtha using the catalytic reforming process, with a production capacity of 561,000 tons of high-octane reformate, 33,000 tons of hydrogen, and 10,000 tons of butane gas, annually, amounts to an overall investment of $294m.