Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla stated that there are many vital projects with high added value implemented by the petroleum sector in the fields of the petrochemical industry, with the aim of providing the products and raw materials necessary for the local market and replacing imports of these products to serve the national economy.

This statement came while El Molla was chairing the general assembly of the Egyptian Petrochemical Holding Company (ECHEM) via videoconference to approve the planning budget for the fiscal year 2023/24 and discuss the situation of the new projects.

The minister added that there are more than one project that are characterized by low costs, high economic returns, and their ability to achieve high value from the final product compared to the raw material, including, for example, the projects for the production of soda ash and metallic silicon in Alamein.

El Molla explained that work is being done on these projects in parallel with the major petrochemical projects and industrial complexes in the regions of Sokhna and El Alamein, whose implementation phases have started to be an important economic addition in the medium term upon completion.

The minister indicated that these projects come in accordance with the petrochemical industry strategy that the petroleum sector has updated until 2040 to serve as an ambitious national plan that is being implemented.

Moreover, El Molla highlighted the work on the participation of the private sector with the state in the implementation of these projects to achieve the goals of this strategy in providing locally made products to achieve integration, which in turn feeds many industries in addition to replacing imports and increasing exports and added value.

During the assembly meeting, Ibrahim Mekki, ECHEM’s Chairman, presented the general indicators of the planning budget and the executive position of the projects being implemented and planned to be established, as he indicated that the budget is concerned with long-term investments and projects under implementation, with a total of EGP 3.5 billion.

In this context, Mekki presented the ongoing and targeted steps to complete the implementation of bio-ethanol projects, the Red Sea petrochemical complex in the economic zone at the Suez Canal axis, the petrochemical complex in New Alamein, as well as the soda ash and silicon metal complexes in New Alamein. This is in addition to many projects to produce wooden boards from rice straw, methanol derivatives, and super-absorbent polymers. There is also a melamine project in the MOPCO complex in Damietta, and the studies for its implementation are being completed.