Karim Badawi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, held a meeting with leaders of petroleum companies to follow up on the progress of the Red Sea National Petrochemicals Complex project.

Set to be built in the Suez Canal Economic Zone, the complex is one of the most important projects supporting the Egyptian economy, given its economic value through increasing local production and realising import substitution, which would greatly reduce the import bill and maximize the added value of crude oil by converting it into products previously imported from abroad, he added.

The project is fully financed by Egyptian investments.

During the meeting, Mohamed El-Saadawy, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Red Sea National Petrochemicals Company, reviewed the project’s implementation status, which will be carried out in two phases. He explained that the first phase involves converting crude oil into petrochemical products, including polyethylene and polypropylene, with an added value of $700 million annually. The second phase will include adding polyester production to the project’s output.

El-Saadawy added that engineering and detailed designs for the project are currently being finalized in preparation for execution. This followed an agreement signed last April between a Chinese Egyptian consortium consisting of China National Chemical Engineering Corporation (CNCEC) as the general contractor, along with Engineering for the Petroleum and Process Industries (Enppi) and Petroleum Projects and Technical Consultations Company (PETROJET).