Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, the Egyptian Foreign Trade and Investment Minister revealed that the government reached an agreement with the country's cement firms to use coke fuel which derived from coal to generate energy in the framework of commitment of European standards, keen to preserve the environment. The Minister asserted that this agreement comes in conjunction with taking strict procedures which up to the closure of the cement firms' plants are not bound by those standards. Adel Nour added that it is schedule to offer this agreement on the environment minister as a prelude to express its opinion during the next two weeks then the final adoption of these firms to start using coke, expecting that first cement firms will begin using it by September. An official source in Petroleum Ministry noted that the proportion of gas supplied to the cement plants during the second half of 2013, equivalent to about 83% of the contractual quantities. In addition to quantities of diesel supplied the proportion rose by77%. The source explained that the mix energy used in Egypt supports up 100% on natural gas and fuel oil, , where the plants in Europe, Canada, America and Asia based on other sources. Furthermore, he added that the gas supply lines to the cement plants in Sinai targeted terrorist bombings three times during the past two months, which also had a negative impact on cement supply as a result of the cement factories stopped there for more than 35 days in January and February.
