The National Bank of Egypt (NBE) gave the Arab Petroleum Pipelines Company (SUMED) a loan worth $100m to finance a project for the trading and storage of petroleum products and the launch of a quay in Ain Sokhna.
Chairperson of the NBE board Hisham Okasha and Chairperson and CEO of SUMED, Mohamed Abdel Hafiz, signed the funding contract in the presence of the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla and the head of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) Tarek El Hadidy on Wednesday.
According to Okasha, this funding shows that the NBE is keen to fund vital projects with high economic returns. He added that the NBE is the largest bank operating in the Egyptian market.
The NBE is particularly interested in funding projects of all kinds that create an added value for Egypt’s national economy and contribute to advancing development.
According to Mahmoud Montasser, vice president of the NBE, the signing of this contract with SUMED comes within the framework of the extended strategic relationship between the bank and the petroleum sector, which has resulted in financing many projects.
The total investment cost for this project amounts to about $321m.
According to Abdel Hafiz, the project’s first phase includes the establishment of a quay in Ain Sokhna, which is 2.2km long and 19 metres deep, to receive oil and gas tankers.
He added that the project’s second phase includes the establishment of warehouses for the reception, storage, and trade of natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and fuel oil to be re-exported or attached to the national network for use in the domestic market. This is to contribute to the transformation of Egypt into a logistics centre for the trading of crude oil and its derivatives.
