Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla visited the Egyptian International Gas Technology’s (Gastec) largest integrated center for supplying and converting vehicles to run on natural gas, which provides dual fuel services, as well as supplies about 1,300 cars with gas per day, according to a press release.

The minister announced during his visit that approximately 42,000 cars were converted to run with dual fuel of natural gas and diesel in fiscal year (FY) 2019/20, indicating a 25% increase over the previous FY. This brings the total number of converted cars that since the start of the project to about 320,000 cars.

 El Molla noted that natural gas conversion aligns with President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s plan to expand the use of natural gas as fuel for cars. The minister added that the expansion of natural gas as fuel for cars will have a tangible positive impact on the state and citizens, in addition to being eco-friendly.

The ministry aims to establish more natural gas supply stations, and so a contract was signed between the gas stations operating companies and the Armed Forces’ National Service Projects Organization (NSPO) and the National Company for Roads Building and Development to establish new stations, such as the Hurghada project. Additionally, in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry aims to convert 147,000 gasoline-based vehicles to natural gas-based vehicles in three years, with investments valued at EGP 1.2 billion.

It should be noted that since the beginning of the project there are now 206 natural gas supply stations in Egypt and 74 natural gas conversion centers. Gastec previously announced that they aim to increase that number to reach 366 across Egypt.