Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla said that the project to turn Egypt into a regional hub for the trade of gas and petroleum is considered one of the main work programmes within the project to develop the petroleum sector currently implemented by the ministry, in accordance with the sustainable development strategy “Egypt Vision 2030.”
He added that steps were already taken within the framework of the current plan, noting that the return of the project is large and would contribute to securing the needs of the local market, including energy, and supporting economic development, as well as providing foreign currency.
The project would also provide jobs and achieve optimal economic utilisation of Egypt’s infrastructure in petroleum and gas, allowing even a larger opportunity to inject more investments in this industry and contribute to providing gas to value-added projects, as well as support Egypt’s strategic position in the region.
He pointed out studying technical and economic alternatives to turn Egypt into a regional hub for the trade of gas and petroleum and cooperating with the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean on both the short and long term.
Additionally, this would result in activating economic and trade relationships with these countries and achieving optimal utilisation of the existing infrastructure, including pipelines, and liquefaction factories, in addition to steps made on the legislative level, as a law to regulate the gas market was issued. It would allow the private sector to enter to compete in all gas activities in Egypt.
As for the second part, it is related to petroleum trade, and it aims to utilise Egypt’s strategic position and develop the basic infrastructure, including expanding ports, and storage warehouses, as well as trading petroleum products. Moreover, the second part includes developing executive plans and a work programme with developed mechanisms, in accordance with specific timetables. The executive steps on the project will begin soon, whether on the long or short term.
