Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla met with Petronas President & Group CEO Tengku Muhammad Taufik, and an accompanying delegation to discuss the group’s current investments in Egypt and its most important plans to pump investments during the coming period.

This came in light of the Malaysian group’s interest in the promising opportunities and great potential of the natural gas industry in Egypt and its aspiration to increase investments, especially since it has been working in Egypt for more than two decades.

The meeting witnessed a discussion of the status of the tenth phase project for the development and production of natural gas in the deep West Delta fields in the Mediterranean, in which Petronas participates with Shell, the main operator.

The available opportunities to increase Petronas’ investments in Egypt in the exploration of natural gas were also reviewed. The discussions touched on Petronas’ current investments in liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects in Egypt through its current partnership in the Idku complex on the Mediterranean coast, and the opportunities available to increase those investments, especially with the global demand for LNG is growing.

Taufik stated that Petronas is continuing its investments in Egypt, which has a promising future in the region in the fields of natural gas production and LNG export projects, highlighting that there are important opportunities in Egypt to invest in LNG export projects.

Egypt is one of the few countries that combines all the competitive elements such as the abundance of natural gas resources, the unique location, and the huge infrastructure, which makes it a pivotal country regionally in the trade and transport of LNG supplies from the eastern Mediterranean to Europe, Taufik said, adding that the current time is the most suitable for Egypt in this regard.

Egypt will also benefit from natural gas as an appropriate transitional option in achieving the smart transformation to  new and renewable energy sources in light of the global trend towards environmentally friendly fuels, Taufik added.