Ahmed Al-Sabagh, head of the Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute (EPRI), said that the institute owns nine research centres that provide the state with services, consultancy, studies, applied projects, patent inventions, and products that save the petroleum sector some EGP 1bn per year.
He explained that the EPRI offers innovative solutions to assist in future national projects, including in desalination, as well as 40 chemical compounds that facilitate crude oil production and treatment. The institute also has a centre for the production and development of chemicals, which serves the sector in facilitating the production of oil and gas, thus saving the state millions of dollars.
He pointed out that the institute has an innovative project to clean heat exchangers, used by the petroleum sector, called thermal distribution exchangers, which allow for cleaning the exchangers instead of putting them in storage, especially considering their high prices. He noted that the EPRI has signed contracts with all oil companies to clean the exchangers, which will save them large sums of money.
Moreover, the EPRI has a project to test oil tankers transporting crude oil, gasoline, diesel, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), through modern technological devices, which are necessary for the granting of a license for these tankers.
He pointed out that the EPRI helps in the process of concrete packaging of the sea line, called overloaded material, which works to secure gas lines in the deep water of Zohr field that extends from production wells through to liquefaction stations and the national grid, and install the lines tightly so as not to be affected by the movement of tides and waves. These products were usually imported by oil companies from abroad.
The EPRI also owns nine special nature centres that conduct economic studies and market them properly. These centres are trusted by all Egyptian and global oil companies, Al-Sabagh said.
He stressed that the EPRI is working on innovative solutions to help future national projects, and because water means life, it was necessary for the EPRI to conduct research. “We have a patent for the use of shrimp peel to convert wastewater into water suitable for agriculture,” he added.
Finally, he stressed that the EPRI is a unique research institution, under the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, which receives six patents a year on average and uses them in scientific output that supports the national economy and helps the sustainable development of the state.
