Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla participated in the ministerial session titled ‘Ensuring European Energy Security… Opportunities and Challenges’ within the activities of the ADIPEC 2022 Conference and Exhibition, the ministry said in a statement.

The session discussed visions on ways to secure Europe’s energy needs, the strategies required to achieve this, and building strong partnerships to find a secure and sustainable energy future, in the presence of ministers and officials in the energy sector from African, Asian and European countries, and the Secretary-General of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF).

During his speech to the session, El Molla explained that the current situation of global energy markets showed the role of natural gas as an important source of energy, pointing to Egypt’s vision to enhance joint cooperation with the United States, the European Union (EU) and countries in the region, and the Egyptian initiative it adopted to establish the EMGF four years ago as an effective platform for cooperation. This is in addition to integration in the field of the natural gas industry as well as Egypt’s readiness to be a major player in the global energy markets in cooperation and integration with other countries in light of its infrastructure and facilities in the gas industry.

El Molla added that in light of the continued reliance on natural gas as a reliable and low-carbon source of energy, there must be a comprehensive vision for pumping long-term investments in the fields of research, exploration and production of natural gas.

The Egyptian minister pointed out the importance of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed last June in Cairo between Egypt, Israel and the EU Commission in making the best use of the liquefaction plants owned by Egypt to export additional quantities of gas from the Israeli gas fields for the benefit of all parties.

Cooperation within the framework of the MoU also includes cooperation in the field of renewable energy, as well as the production of low-carbon hydrogen, in a way that enhances energy transformation efforts, El Molla added. He highlighted the pivotal role of international financial institutions to provide distinguished financing sources on concessional terms, which would help speed up and maximize the benefit from the development of gas reserves, especially in the eastern Mediterranean, which in turn would contribute to bridging the current gap between supply and demand for energy.