The Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Sherif Ismail, hosted a meeting with the heads of various oil companies to discuss the progress of petroleum activities in Egypt and to highlight the challenges facing the sector during this critical period in the country.

Dr. Sherif Susa, the First Undersecretary for Gas Affairs at the Egypt Petroleum Ministry, attended the meeting, along with Tarek Al Mulla, Chief Executive of EGPC, Chairman of EGAS Khaled Abdel Badie, Mohamed Saafan, Chairman of ECHEM, and Abu Bakr Ibrahim, Chairman of GANOPE.

During the meeting the Minister presented the obstacles facing the petroleum sector, such as efforts to increase crude oil and natural gas production as well as the steps being taken to resolve the growing gap between rates of production and consumption. He urged companies to be vigilant in their respective oilfields and to communicate constantly with their foreign partners to follow-up with projects that are being implemented and to make sure that they finish on time. The meeting also covered the challenge of upgrading basic infrastructure such as pipelines, storage tanks and refineries. He also reaffirmed the need to keep up to speed with debt repayments.

Minister Ismail added that oil companies should look into alternative forms of energy such as solar energy and invest in solar energy power stations in Egypt.

Finally, the Minister also called on firms to pay attention to the mid and lower level employees and cultivate the most outstanding among them for leadership positions.