Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly met with Karim Badawi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, and Ahmed Kouchouk, Minister of Finance, to follow up on measures taken to avail needed funding to build up a sufficient strategic reserve of various petroleum products to cover the local market needs.

The meeting looked into the impact of the energy-saving plan recently adopted by the government on the consumption of petroleum products, as well as the savings resulting from the decision to postpone the implementation of several national projects for three months. These savings should be directed toward covering urgent energy demands and securing the requirements of vital sectors.

Badawi presented a review of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources’s s latest efforts to increase production. These included discussions with Apache Corporation regarding expansion of its activities in the Western Desert, the addition of two new wells in the Horus area to the production map, and the start of trial operations for the pipeline connecting the West El-Burullus (WEB) gas field to the Idku liquefaction plant.