The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (MOPMR), Egypt has announced its plans to spend $19 billion between 2020 and 2035 to implement 11 key projects, as part of its updated strategy and national development program for the development of the country’s petrochemical production industry.

According to the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tariq El-Molla, the updated plan is currently under review in preparation for final approval from the relevant authorities. The updated plan is part of the ministry’s effort to provide long-term plans and solutions to help position the country for global competitiveness in the petrochemical industry, by working to increase the production of intermediate and finished products that will meet domestic industrial demands and enable the country to do business abroad through exports. This is aimed at improving the country’s trade balance and providing new resources in foreign exchange.

The revised plan includes some of the previously announced projects in the downstream as part of the ministry’s Petroleum Sector Modernization Program (PSMP), a plan developed in 2016 to make up for the losses and decline in activities in the oil industry following the aftermath of the 2011 Arab spring protests and the revolution that took place in the country.

One of the key projects under the revised plan is reportedly the construction of a new integrated refining and petrochemical complex at the northwestern coast, near Marsa Matrouh governorate at New Al-Alamein City. The project is said to cost $8.5 billion and if completed, it would produce 1 million tonnes per year of petrochemical products and 850,000 tonnes per year of petroleum fuels. It would have a crude and condensate processing capacity of 2.5 million tonnes per year. This is intended to meet local demand with its surplus to be exported to willing buyers via the Al Hamra terminal near the Mediterranean Sea.

Commenting on the Al-Alamein project, El-Molla said that principle agreements had been signed to execute detailed studies for the complex, with Engineering Co. for Petroleum & Chemical Industries (ENPPI) also working on the preparation of a tender to find a general contractor for the project.

He further commented on another key project, which is the proposed $7.5 million integrated refining and petrochemicals complex in the Suez Cana Economic Zone (SCZone) by Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Co (ECHEM), for which Bechtel Corp. is providing engineering procurement and construction. If achieved, the complex would produce 2.2 million tonnes per year of petrochemical products and 650,000 tonnes per year of fuels.