Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, emphasized that fields of reducing emissions and capturing and exploiting carbon are attracting the world’s attention, and this was confirmed during the COP27 Climate Summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, and the Egyptian International Petroleum Show (EGYPS), last February, which achieved impressive success and an important return and became one of the most important international conferences, with the testimony of all, the ministry said in a statement.

This came during a meeting organized by the British Egyptian Business Association (BEBA) in the presence of the British Ambassador in Cairo, Gareth Bayley, the President of the Association, Khaled Nosseir, and a number of oil sector leaders and heads of Egyptian and international oil companies operating in Egypt.

During the event, El Molla highlighted Egypt’s recent participation in the CERAWeek Conference in the US and the important meetings he held with international oil and energy officials, which confirms Egypt’s position on the global energy map.

El Molla also reviewed the efforts of the petroleum sector in the field of reducing carbon emissions, as he explained that the Integrated Sustainable Energy Strategy 2035 is currently being prepared in cooperation with the Ministry of Electricity, pointing out that the strategy includes all kinds of hydrogen production projects, and it will be implemented using advanced technologies to reach a balanced energy mix, and the need for natural gas as a basic component of fossil fuels and part of the solution in the energy transition process, which was emphasized in COP27. The strategy also includes energy security, financial sustainability, and governance.

The minister further stated that providing financing and modern technologies is important for the implementation of these projects with the participation of partners and all energy companies that have great expertise in these fields.

El Molla explained that improving energy efficiency is an important field in all sectors, not just the oil and gas sector, referring to the sector’s success in achieving annual savings of $130 million from energy efficiency operations. The minister added that a department has been established at EGAS for green energy. The minister also referred to the joining of the World Bank’s initiative of “zero emissions of flare gases”  by 2030, indicating that there are good opportunities to implement carbon capture, storage, and exploitation projects.

At the end of the meeting, El Molla answered the questions and inquiries of the attendees, where he explained that the program for developing and modernizing the petroleum sector, which was launched in 2016, effectively contributed to facing the challenges posed by global events, starting from the Coronavirus crisis to the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, which cast a shadow on world economies.

El Molla also explained that international bids have been put forward to search for oil and gas through the Egypt Digital Portal, the latest of which is the bidding for brownfields to increase production rates in non-traditional ways, indicating that there are successful partnerships with foreign partners and we look forward to achieving more success stories during the coming period.