The Egyptian Minister of Petroleum, Tarek El Molla, stated that the ministry has estimated the unused capacity of Egyptian refineries at 6.7mt/y of crude oil. National refineries’ annual operational capacity is 33mt/y of petroleum, yet they are currently using just 26.3mt/y, including around 3.4mt of Kuwaiti crude, reported Al Borsa.

A source with the ministry stated that Egypt is working on increasing its crude oil imports in order to increase refining capacities and secure domestic demands of petroleum derivatives. Accordingly, Egypt started negotiating with Iraq over importing crude oil cargos to be processed in national refineries. Furthermore, Egypt will build a  pipeline to connect South Iraq and Aqaba city in Jordan.

In related news, an official with the petroleum sector had stated to Egypt Oil&Gas that Egypt imports bill for petroleum derivatives including benzene, diesel and mazut, as well as liquefied natural gas (LNG), had reached EGP 13b a month. He had added that the government’s petroleum unpaid crisis would decrease from EGP 6b per month to EGP 3.5b per month after the increase in pump prices.