During a panel discussion held during the presidential inauguration of Egypt Energy Show (EGYPES 2024) which was attended by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla reviewed Egypt’s steps for achieving energy transition.
He further emphasized the country’s commitment to international pledges to reduce emissions including methane, and expanding dependence on natural gas in different fields of life in the country.
The panel titled “Energies of the Future”, was attended by Ditte Juul Jorgenson, Director of the Energy Department of the European Union Commission, Haitham Al Ghais, Secretary General of OPEC, and Guangzhe Chen, Vice President for Infrastructure at the World Bank.
Minister El Molla explained how Egypt enhanced the use of natural gas in the hydrocarbons mix to reach 60% instead of 40% of the petroleum products along with extending natural gas to more houses and converting cars to run on gas as fuel instead of petrol. Within the presidential initiative “Decent Life”, gas has been provided as clean cooking services to around 62 million citizens nationwide.
El Molla also affirmed that the availability of the necessary financing for energy transition and reducing emissions guarantees a rapid and fair energy transition and adherence to international pledges in this framework. He pointed out that the participation of major international institutions such as the European Union and the World Bank, with their financing arms, in supporting these programs would encourage the private sector to increase its investments in renewable energy and ensure that energy transition efforts would grow and do not decline, especially in the continent of Africa, which Egypt is committed to helping in the energy transition by exploiting the resources available to us and them, and that provided by the international institutions with easy financial incentives.
On her part, Jorgenson emphasized that the COP27 put Egypt on the right path towards energy transformation, accelerating its projects, and improving energy efficiency. She also affirmed that securing energy supplies fairly and sustainably is a common goal that Egypt and the European Union are working on together in accordance with the important and fruitful partnership between the two sides. This is especially in light of the unprecedented challenges the region is going through and the great opportunities available in Egypt, stressing the importance of strengthening the role of the private sector in this framework and increasing its investments in it.
During the same panel, Haitham Al-Ghais, Secretary-General of OPEC, highlighted the importance of the multiple and diversifying energy transition paths and plans according to the circumstances and needs of each country. He affirmed that one could not force a single compulsory path for the energy transition to be applied by everyone. Instead, each country should adopt its own strategy for reaching the common goal of reducing emissions.
He proudly referred to the praise made by the US Federal Reserve to OPEC’s role in stabilizing the global energy markets, pointing out that a just energy transition requires the role of OPEC, and requires global attention to provide energy for all, which can only be achieved by investing in all sources of energy, especially since there are peoples who do not even have traditional energy sources.
He stressed that oil and gas can be produced more responsibly through modern technologies that achieve amazing results.
Guangzhe, meanwhile, affirmed that the energy transition and reducing emissions must be accompanied by providing energy for all and fighting poverty. He noted that the bank conducted a study on the energy transition in Egypt as part of the World Bank’s report on the appropriate energy transition methods for each country. In this regard, he affirmed that abandoning fossil fuels is not possible and people’s lack of energy sources represents a problem and a challenge.
