(Photo by Omar Al-Qorashy)
Former Minister of Petroleum Osama Kamal said, on the second day of the Future and Investment Opportunities in New and Renewable Energy conference, that the annual black market revenues from the smuggling of petroleum products, such as diesel fuel, total EGP 30bn.
“These revenues lead the smugglers to fight the fuel smart card system,” Kamal said.
Kamal continued to discuss the challenges caused by energy subsidies, stating: “A kilowatt of electricity is produced using fuel with a cost of EGP 0.28.”
“The power stations, however, are sold fuel [at a cost of] EGP 0.23 per kilowatt,” the former minister added.
The former minister pointed out that the government injects EGP 1bn into the electricity sector on a daily basis to support energy subsides, which is sold for EGP200m.
“This means there is an EGP 800m loss daily,” Kamal stated, asserting that the country does not have the luxury of having a “long-term search plan” for new and renewable energy sources.
Kamal said that the government “recognises the volume of the problems” it is facing in the energy sector.
