Egypt’s Energy Minister Tarek El-Molla said his country is on track to reach a target to become self-sufficient in refined oil products by 2023. El-Molla said the $7-billion programme to upgrade existing refineries and build new ones would contribute to the target. The new plants are expected to expand the country’s refined fuel capacity by 6.2 million tons/year.
Egypt is already self-sufficient in natural gas following the discovery of the offshore Zohr field in 2015. This enables the North African country to raise its LNG exports and aim to become a major hub for gas shipping to Europe. Egypt has also agreed to ship gas to Lebanon through Jordan and Syria in early 2022 to alleviate the country’s severe power blackouts.
