Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla chaired an engaging roundtable organized by the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF) in Cairo, with the participation of EMGF Secretary-General Osama Mobarez.

Organized in cooperation with Egypt Oil & Gas (EOG) Group, it was moderated by EOG Founder and Managing Director Mohamed Fouad and witnessed the productive participation of leaders and representatives from international petroleum and energy companies operating in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

As part of the activities of the EMGF’s decarbonization workshop taking place under the theme “Leveraging Technology to Accelerate a Decarbonized Future for the East Med”, the roundtable’s attendees also included officials from companies providing carbon removal technologies in the field of energy as well as Egyptian petroleum sector companies implementing sustainability and carbon abatement projects.

The roundtable was held in light of the interest of the Egyptian gas and oil industry in effective cooperation with international organizations and companies to reduce carbon emissions and expand the cleaner use of natural gas in the energy transition phase.

It was also held to discuss the implementation of the outcomes of the expanded workshop held by the forum to identify ways to maximize the use of technology to accelerate decarbonization in the Eastern Mediterranean region. It also highlighted the support the dissemination and use of carbon removal technology and investment in it to keep pace with production trends and the responsible and environmentally sustainable use of natural gas.

El Molla confirmed during the roundtable that the world is still in need of fossil fuels and traditional energy, and that energy security and sufficiency of its resources is a priority. He pointed out that this was strongly demonstrated by the energy crisis that occurred last year as a result of the repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. He added that many people are in developing countries still need more energy to meet their needs.

The minister added that global challenges in the field of energy have also shown that there is no single solution that suits all countries for energy transformation and decarbonization, and therefore it is important for each country to work to form the mix of energy sources that best suits it and its needs.

El Molla pointed out that providing advanced technologies and the necessary financing to implement carbon reduction projects is an absolute necessity for developing countries to be able to move forward with implementing their emissions reduction plans.

Meanwhile, Mobarez explained that the expanded workshop held by the forum reviewed, through a number of demonstrations, technological progress in the field of collecting, capturing and storing carbon and energy efficiency to reduce emissions.

Mobarez explained that the workshop not only highlighted the importance of technology as much as it highlighted the importance of cooperation and integration between industry parties.

For their part, the participants in the round table, including heads of international companies and industry experts, stressed that natural gas is the optimal transitional fuel at this stage and will remain so for a long time, and that security of supply is as important as the energy transition.

They explained that the application of carbon reduction, removal and capture technology requires factors for success, the most important of which is the availability of financing, policies and regulations that regulate these projects and reducing the economic cost, in addition to providing transport infrastructure and sites for their establishment at the regional level.

The attendees also pointed out the importance of Egypt’s pioneering role in the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum to achieve cooperation and bring together the countries of the region and put forward initiatives that call for reducing emissions and supporting research in this regard.

The roundtable witnessed the participation of  presidents and executives of Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Shell, Wintersall Dia, SLB, BakerHughes, Halliburton, Apache, Worley, Saipem, Energean, and HELLENiQ.

Moreover, the participants included the CEO of the Gas Regulatory Authority (GASREG), and the heads and officials of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), the Egyptian Petrochemical Holding Company (ECHEM), Petrojet, and Enppi.