Chairman of the Egyptian Refining Company (ERC), Ahmed Heikal, said  that the company will start a trial operation for the new refinery in Mostorod during the fourth quarter of 2017, Al Borsa reported.

The Mostorod plant project investments are up to $3.7b. The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation contributes 24.5% of the investments, while the remaining 75.5% belongs to Al Qalaa Holdings . Heikal said that ERC is seeking to maximize its production capacity in the second quarter of 2018.

He also mentioned that the Japanese government has funded the project with $900m, the Korean government with $850m, the European Union  with $450m, African Union with $ 225m, in addition to a loan from a global coalition worth $200m. He explained that the project will provide about 4.7mt of petroleum products from a total of 38mt produced in Egypt.

In addition, Managing Director of ERC, Mohammad Saad, said that the grace period of the company’s loan expires by the end 2018.