CAIRO: The Ministry of Petroleum ended the week on a high note, approving new Indian investments in different petroleum domains and acquiring a Jordanian bid to produce potash. Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmi met with a delegation from Reliance, an Indian group of companies, to discus the establishment of new projects in the fields of refining petrochemicals and natural gas as well as oil and gas marketing and exploration activities. "The Indian delegation relayed the plans set by [Reliance], which aims to invest $10 billion in various petroleum fields, particularly in the domain of petrochemicals, Fahmi said. Reliance plans to establish an integrated complex for manufacturing plastic - used in industrial, agricultural, food and infrastructure products - as one of the complementary industries of petrochemical products. The complex capacity is expected to be about 1.3 million tons and is regarded as one of the biggest complexes worldwide, with investments of $1.5 billion and production value of $2.5 billion. It will provide 90 direct and 90 indirect job opportunities. Once the project is implemented, it should meet local market requirements and the surplus will be exported to Europe, the Middle East and Africa. "This has been a good week for us, the plastic complex is needed in Egypt and will benefit petroleum-related industries. The ministry is focusing on ways to develop the petrochemicals sector and we are definitely succeeding, the minister's office told Daily News Egypt. Earlier this week, Petrojet won the international tender offered by the Jordanian Potash Company to implement a new project to produce 450,000 tons of potash annually. The project will cost $85 million and the potash will be used by various chemical industries, including fertilizers. "This tender was a difficult one and Petrojet has a lot of tasks to accomplish, but it is a strong company and they will be able to fulfill the requirements on time, the minister's office said.
