The Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, stated that the total capacity of Al-Hamra port in the Mediterranean will increase from 1.5 million barrels (mmbbl) to 2.6 mmbbl, which can help to transform Egypt into a regional hub for oil and gas.

This came during the general assembly’s meeting of the Western Desert Operating Petroleum Company (WEPCO) and Badr El-Din Petroleum Company’s (Bapetco) which was held via video conference to approve their planned budgets for fiscal year (FY) 2021/22.

During the meeting, Ibrahim Masoud, the Chairman of the company, presented the features of WEPCO and Bapetco’s planned budgets for FY 2021/22, explaining that it is expected to receive 265,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) and ship an amount of 30 mmbbl through Al-Hamra port’s facilities. In addition, the Egyptian refineries will be supplied with 66 mmbbl through the onshore transportation lines and the crude oil production rates will increase from Badr-1 field to 1.8 mmbbl per year with an average of 5,000 bbl/d.

El Molla stressed on offering all the technical, and financial support to the Egyptian companies in the field of exploration, in order to achieve their targets in raising production.