Egypt's Oil Minister Tarek el-Molla said on Monday the establishment of a refinery and petrochemical complex in the New Alamein City is currently under study, with initial estimates of the cost at $8.5 billion, equivalent to 152.4 billion Egyptian pounds. The minister's remarks were made during his presidency of the general assembly of the Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Company (ECHEM), held to approve its draft budget for the financial year 2019/2020. According to a statement released by the petroleum ministry on Monday, at the assembly the minister explained the expansion of the petrochemicals project to deal with the increasing needs of the market. He said that the oil sector is currently working on carrying out an integrated plan for the development of the petrochemical industry and creating an atmosphere that encourages more investment in the sector. The chairman of ECHEM, Saad Helal, said the New Alamein complex project aims at producing around 1.5 million tons of specialised petrochemicals and around 1.9 million tons of petrochemical products such as butane gas, kerosene, mazut and diesel. He said that other expansion projects include Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals Company (SEDPE), with total investments that hit $1.25 billion and a production capacity of 450,000 tons annually. Other planned projects include Suez Company, the development of the naval quay, facilitation of shipping and storage of MOPCO company with investments of $190 million, Helal added. Helal also said that ECHEM was committed to applying industrial security standards and environment protection plans along with maintaining its strategy to developing the petrochemical sector and raise its productivity rates. Source: MENA
