Egypt is set to construct new atmospheric distillation unit at Assuit Oil Refinery. This follows a signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Assiut Oil Refining Company (ASORC), a subsidiary of Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) with Engineering for Petroleum and Process Industries (ENPPI) and Petroleum Projects and Technical Consultations Company (Petrojet) consortium.
The US $381.56 M project is part of the continuous expansion of the south of Cairo located facility, which is considered the basic pillar for securing the petrochemicals products to Upper Egypt. The Ennpi and Petrojet consortium will be the contractor for implementing the project with an annual capacity of five million tons of crude oil.
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Modernization plan
According to Tarek al-Molla, the Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, the North African country is undertaking a development and modernization plan as well as expansion of refineries to secure fuel supplies for the present and future. By 2023, the country aims to reach self-sufficiency in petrochemicals products.
As part of this plan, the government is undertaking five large projects in oil refining and petrochemicals with a total investment of more than US$ 14bn. In October, the country began construction of a gas pipeline that has an estimated capacity of 15 million cubic feet of gas per day in the Western Desert.
The pipeline is being constructed by Egyptian General Petroleum (EGPC), a state-owned fully integrated oil and gas company undertaking exploration, production, refining, and distribution activities. EGPC also started production from the northwest gas field that has an initial capacity of 15 million cubic feet of gas per day.
