Egypt’s Petroleum Minister inspects refinery projects in Suez
Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Karim Badawi, inspected expansion and development projects at the Suez Oil Processing Co. and Nasr Petroleum Company (NPC), as part of efforts to increase domestic fuel production, reduce the import bill, and strengthen safety and environmental protection systems.
Badawi said reducing fuel imports and boosting local output remain top priorities for the ministry, highlighting the coking and diesel production complex under construction at the Suez Oil Processing Co. as a key project towards achieving this goal. The complex, with a design capacity of 1.75 million tons of fuel oil annually, will convert fuel oil into high-value petroleum products to help close the consumption gap and improve environmental outcomes. The facility, implemented by Enppi and Petrojet, has reached about 60 per cent completion.
The minister also reviewed a new industrial wastewater treatment plant with a capacity of 48,000 cubic metres per day, designed to protect the Gulf of Suez’s marine environment. The project has reached 73 per cent completion.
At NPC, Badawi inspected the new Vapour Recovery Unit (VRU), which has started trial operations and is expected to produce 340,000 tons of butane annually, alongside high-value petroleum products, with an investment of 1.1 billion Egyptian pounds. Full operations are scheduled for later this year. The company has also expanded output through a condensate distillation project launched last year, adding 1.2 million tons annually.
Additional projects at NPC include a seawater desalination plant with a capacity of 6,000 cubic metres per day, a wastewater treatment plant of 700 cubic metres per hour, automatic fire and safety systems covering the whole facility, process safety studies, and the construction of a 1.2-megawatt solar power plant.
Badawi reiterated that refinery expansions fall under the ministry’s strategy to maximise underutilised capacities, while safety and environmental projects align with its commitment to protect workers and ensure sustainable operations.
Attribution: Amwal Al Ghad English
Subediting: M. S. Salama