Qatar Petroleum International (QPI) will join Egypt’s Orient Company and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) in their venture to set up a new $3.6bn refinery in Greater Cairo.

The refinery that will be set up under Egypt Refining Company (ERC) is expected to start up in 2016 and bring direct benefits to the country’s economy besides creating many jobs.

Once operational, the state-of-the-art refinery will produce more than 4.2mn tonnes of refined products and oil derivatives annually, including more than 2.3mn tonnes of high quality and environment -friendly diesel per year. This is expected to cut Egyptian diesel imports by up to 50%.

Speaking at a meeting, also attended by Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Osama Kamal, in Doha, HE the Minister of Energy and Industry, Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada, said the  project would further enhance QPI’s strategy to develop portfolios such as exploration, refining and petrochemicals.

Al-Sada said the QPI investment in the refinery project would realise one of the objectives of the recent visit to Egypt by HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani during which he had met the country’s president Dr Mohamed Mursi.

Qatar has stated that it will support Egypt’s economy through new investments in all possible areas. 

Kamal thanked Qatar for backing the project which will enhance Egypt’s refining and petrochemical sectors.

He said that Egypt was looking forward to strengthen economic ties with Qatar, especially in the promising investment opportunities in liquefied natural gas (LNG) import from Qatar.

“We look forward to establishing many facilities that are capable of receiving Qatari LNG and that can provide fuel to industries, utilities and petrochemical units. Egypt is hopeful of a positive outcome on talks pertaining to LNG imports from Qatar,” Kamal said.

He said the Egyptian market was promising and provided adequate opportunities for investment.

On the Greater Cairo refinery project that is being implemented with QPI support, Egypt Refining Company said: “It will cut present-day diesel imports by half thereby reducing Egypt’s annual fuel subsidy besides improving the air quality in the Greater Cairo Area and help reduce Egypt’s annual subsidy bill.”

Qatar Petroleum International (QPI), a wholly-owned QP subsidiary,  is seeking investment opportunities outside Qatar in energy-related fields.

Source: Gulf Times