Egypt consumes the equivalent of $55 billion worth of fuel supplies, which is provided by the oil and gas sector annually at an actual cost ranging between $20-22 billion, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla explained in a media statement on the Egyptian television station CBC.

El Molla explained that this represents the costs that international companies spend on extracting and producing oil and gas, in addition to the import bill, which ranges between $10-12 billion annually, pointing out that these costs depend on changes in the exchange rate and international Brent crude oil prices.

The minister confirmed that the petroleum system of production, refining and distribution of petroleum and natural gas meets the country’s local needs by up to two-thirds of the needs of local production, and the country works to cover the remaining one-third through imports to meet the requirements of various aspects of consumption in a large country like Egypt and to fulfill the demands of the Egyptian economy and its various sectors of electricity, transportation, industry, trade, and development and urban expansion.

This comes as energy is the primary driver of economic activities, El Molla noted.

El Molla stated that the electricity sector is at the forefront of the consumption sectors to which fuel quantities from the petroleum sector are directed, as 60% of natural gas supplies in Egypt are directed to the electricity sector on average, and the percentage of natural gas consumption in the sector is increasing during the summer.