The Egyptian Parliament approved the draft law submitted by the government allowing the Ministry of Finance to guarantee Middle East Oil Refinery (MIDOR) and Assiut Oil Refining Company (ASORC) their $2.6b fund from the Financial and Insurance Products and Services (Sace), reported Al Wattan News.

The fund is aimed for an expansion project in MIDOR that would increase production by 73% to be 5m tons of diesel and Jet Fuel, 105m tons of benzene, 276,000 tons of butane, 140,000 tons of sulfur, and 276,000 tons of coal. The fund further aims to establish a hydraucracking complex in ASORC, informed Al Bawabh News.

Minister of Finance, Amr El Garhy, pointed out the importance of the two projects in securing petroleum products. El Garhy said, “Our petroleum imports reached EGP 14b per year, which affects the trade balance deficit. The market’s consumption of petroleum products ranges between 52 tons to 78 tons. Therefore, these projects are important for refining petroleum and help increase the industry’s depth and reach self-sufficiency. The projects’ time-frame is going between 3 to 4 years.”