The National Bank of Egypt (NBE) signed a loan worth EGP 1.98bn with the Alexandria National Refine and Petrochemicals on Thursday.
The loan will be used to finance 72% of the total investment cost to set up a project to improve naphtha and continuous catalyst regeneration to produce high-octane gasoline, 92 and 95. The total cost of the project is estimated at EGP 780.2bn and the loan has a period of nine years.
The contract was signed between head of the NBE, Hisham Okasha, and president of the company Khaled Khalifa.
NBE Deputy Chairperson Mahmoud Montasser said the contract will reflect on the state’s resource of foreign currency, where it is expected to generate $415m per year, as Egypt used to bear that figure to import the quantities that will be locally produced.
Montasser added that the NBE pays great attention to this kind of project with an economic payoff in all sectors that create added value for the national economy.
The expansions will be undertaken by the company and would double its production of high-quality octane.
The new unit will be adding about 850,000 tonnes per year, in addition to 12,000 tons of butane gas, which will help cover a large part of the demand for gasoline and LPG in the domestic market. Production is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2018.
