The Egyptian state pays around $1.1 billion on a weekly basis for petroleum products, Head of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), Khaled Othman, told Amwal Al Ghad.

The consumption of petroleum products, which is increasing by 7% per year, results into the increase of imports bill, which led to moving prices gradually to face the import bill increase, Othman pointed out.

Benzene consumption rose from 3 million tons to 10 million tons within 10 years due to new consumers entering the market, which increased the cost of benzene subsidy to EGP 150 million per day.

Accordingly, in order to achieve petroleum self-sufficiency by the end of 2018, Egypt will increase the production capacity of refineries, which will secure local market’s demands of fuel and decrease imports, Othman stated.