Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly made a televised announcement of a government decision to import additional shipments of mazut for the coming period to achieve balance in the electricity network.

He explained that the volume of mazut imports until the end of August will amount to between $250 million and $300 million.

This decision was announced after a cabinet meeting at its headquarters in New Alamein City, in the presence of Tarek El Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources and Mohamed Shaker, Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy.

The statement dealt with measures to address the problem of power outages.

Madbouly stated that, based on many studies and estimates, a decision was taken last April to stop importing any additional shipments of mazut and rely on what is produced locally. He indicated that local production of diesel fuel in normal conditions is sufficient to operate power plants, pointing out that additional quantities of fuel oil is sometimes needed to be used in emergency conditions.

Madbouly indicated that electrical supply issues began on July 17, with the extremely high temperatures, which Egypt and many countries of the world faced.

He stated that a few minutes ahead of his statement, António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, made an important announcement that July is the hottest ever.

Madbouly pointed out that these statements summarize the sudden crisis that the countries of the world have faced during the past ten days.

He highlighted his keenness to respond to many issues that he follows on a daily basis, and raised in the media and social networking sites, about the coordination that takes place between different ministries to solve this issue, and the measures taken to manage the crisis.