Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Karim Badawi has affirmed the significant role of the petrochemical industry as an essential component of the national economy and a base for promoting local industries and reducing imports.

During the General Assembly’s meeting of the Egyptian Petrochemical Holding Company (ECHEM), Minister Badawi highlighted the ministry’s efforts to promote investments in field of oil and gas production to provide the needed fuel to achieve the ultimate utilization of the capacities of the petrochemical plants.

During the meeting, the Minister stressed the importance of full commitment to occupational and health safety in various petrochemical industry sites to preserve the safety of the human element.

He also stressed the importance of the environmental aspect and ensuring the commitment of the petrochemical industry to environmental measures in all its projects.

In addition, he highlighted the construction of several petrochemical projects during the coming years that will have a significant impact on reducing imports of many products and achieving a distinguished environmental return.

The first of these projects is a plant to produce wooden panels from rice straw in Idku city, which has entered the experimental operation phase and is scheduled to start commercial operation this year for production of around 205,000 cubic meters of wooden panels that could be used in the manufacture of furniture and floors.

The minister also referred to some other projects such as the sustainable aviation fuel and expansions of MOPCO facilities as well as the project of capturing carbon dioxide, which represents a model for environmentally friendly petrochemical projects.

During the meeting, the ECHEM Chairman Ibrahim Mekki reviewed the results of the fiscal year 2023-2024, stating that nine existing petrochemical facilities and companies achieved a total production of 4 million tons, in addition to the intermediate products used in the manufacture of petrochemicals in other companies.

He pointed out that the petrochemical product sales for the year amounted to approximately EGP 37 billion for the local market and exports.

Mekki also reviewed the efforts to implement new projects such as the methanol derivatives production project in Damietta to produce about 140,000 tons of derivatives used in the adhesives, ready-mix concrete, and fertilizer industries, and the bioethanol production project in Damietta from sugar factory molasses, which will produce 100,000 tons of bioethanol used in the pharmaceutical and ink industries, and to be added to car gasoline to help reduce carbon emissions.

He also referred to the soda ash production project, which is a vital project to provide a product that Egypt imports at no less than $250 million annually for the glass, paper, chemicals, detergents, and other industries.

The silicon complex is another project he mentioned that is anticipated to produce 45,000 tons of mineral silicon as a first phase from Egyptian quartz ore to maximize the added value of this ore to be used in the electronics and solar energy cell industries.

He also mentioned the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) project from used cooking oil and the green ammonia production project in Damietta to produce 150,000 tons of green ammonia as a green fuel.

The Chairman reviewed the efforts to develop and expand existing petrochemical plants, notably the MOPCO complex in Damietta, which successfully implemented a new project to produce adblue, a material with increasing global demand in heavy vehicles to reduce harmful emissions, in addition to a project to increase urea production capacity and a unit to extract carbon dioxide.