Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla participated in a discussion session organized by the Arab American Chamber of Commerce at the headquarters of the Apache International Company in Houston, on the sidelines of the CERAWeek International Energy Conference.

The session reviewed Egypt’s energy transition vision and the global trend towards clean and green energies, in light of Egypt’s role as a host of the UN Climate Change Conference 2022 (COP27), in addition to the important and growing role of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF) and the investment opportunities available to American companies.

During the session, El Molla highlighted the investment opportunities available in Egypt in the fields of oil and natural gas industries, which are in line with the vision to confront climate change, and the feasibility of those opportunities in light of the changes in energy markets, especially those related to global prices. The petroleum sector is currently implementing large investments in a number of projects that achieve this strategy, and are established in accordance with international standards, he noted.

Egypt is implementing a number of carbon capture, storage, and utilization projects as well as projects to benefit from flare gases instead of burning them in many oil fields, El Molla stated.

The minister highlighted the importance of natural gas as a transitional fuel, referring to the Egyptian experience in expanding the usage of natural gas in all industrial activities and in catering for cars to work with compressed natural gas. This is in addition to expanding the delivery of natural gas to households as an alternative to butane cylinders.

The session was attended by Aida Araissi – Managing Director – Bilateral US-Arab Chamber; John Christmann, CEO of Apache Corporation; Osama Mobarez, EMGF Secretary-General; Paula Swain is a managing director in the Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank); and Muhammad Laghari, Head of Investment Banking at Citigroup; as well as representatives of a number of energy companies such as Chevron, Baker Hughes, General Electric, Schlumberger, IPR Energy, McDermott, and Total Energy.