The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources has succeeded in providing 386 m tonnes of petroleum products and natural gas to the local market over the past five years, at a total cost of $162bn. A source at the ministry told Daily News Egypt that the rate of domestic consumption of petroleum products such as petrol, diesel, and jet fuel, increases by about 4% annually. While the consumption of LPG cylinders falls by about 2% annually due to the expansion of the plan to deliver natural gas to households. The ministry seeks to reduce the deficit between the domestic production and consumption of petrol by 3.8% during the next fiscal year, bringing the total domestic production to about 7.6 m tonnes annually, compared to 8 m tonnes of consumption. The source said that the production of diesel locally will rise to about 14.7 m tonnes annually during the next fiscal year, compared to 16.8 m tonnes of consumption, which reduces the deficit by about 12.5%. He added that the rate of production of LPG will increase to 2.6 m tonnes per year compared to about 3.9 m tonnes of domestic consumption, to reduce the deficit by 33.3%. The source pointed out that the production of jet fuel locally reached 4.1 m tonnes annually, with consumption at about 670,000 tonnes, which achieves an exportable surplus of 3.43 m tonnes during the next fiscal year. He explained that the increase in domestic production of petroleum products is a result of the exploitation of the capacities in Egyptian refineries, and the import of crude oil instead of products, saving millions of dollars for the country. Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla said in previous statements that work is underway to secure crude oil supplies for Egyptian refineries through importation to increase domestic production of fuel. He pointed out that the ministry is seeking to complete the extension of the Iraqi oil pipeline expected to be established between Basra in Iraq and Aqaba in Jordan to reach Egypt. El-Molla added that the ministry aims to achieve self-sufficiency of fuel and petroleum products after the completion of all new expansions of Egyptian refineries during the year 2022/2023. Egypt has about eight crude oil refineries with a production capacity of 38 m tonnes, of which about 25 m tonnes are used annually.
