Egypt's Qalaa Holdings has completed 92 percent of the works in the Egyptian Refining Company's (ERC) anticipated oil refinery project, with investments worth $3.6 billion. The refinery, the largest in Egypt, aims to decrease present-day diesel import needs by 50 percent and Sulphur emissions by one third as well as to help reduce the country's annual subsidy bill. Qalaa plans to complete works and inaugurate ERC's project by the end of 2017, managing director Karim Sadek told Amwal Al Ghad on Wednesday. Qalaa owns 20 percent of the Egyptian Refining Company (ERC), whose current shareholding includes the state-run Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), in addition to Egyptian and Arab private investors. ERC, which is 25 percent owned by the Egyptian government, is the second-largest project ongoing in the country – smaller only than the $8.5 billion New Suez Canal – a second waterway designed to expand Egypt's strategic shipping lane. The refinery will process heavy fuel into diesel for local consumption, and once at capacity could supply 50 percent of the country's requirements.
