Qatar Petroleum In ‘Serious Talks’ To Invest In Mostorod Refinery

Qatar is in “serious talks” about investing in Egypt’s Mostorod oil refinery project, the head of Qatar Petroleum International said.

“If we’re going to invest, we’re going to pay money,” Nasser al-Jaidah, chief executive officer of the foreign investment arm of the country’s state-run oil company, said today in an interview. “I don’t know how much.”

Mohammed al-Sada, the country’s oil minister, said earlier today that the country was investing in an Egyptian refinery, without providing further details. Both Jaidah and Sada spoke at a conference in the emirate’s capital Doha.

Qatar is spending gas and oil revenue on energy projects abroad after finishing the last of 14 domestic gas liquefaction plants last year as well as the world’s largest plant that turns the fuel into diesel and kerosene. The world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas plans no further gas export projects until a moratorium is lifted on further development of the North Field reservoir.

The Persian Gulf nation is providing $400 million to support the Mostorod refinery project, which has been stalled since former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s ouster in February last year, MEED reported April 25, citing unidentified people involved in the matter.

Qatar Petroleum is providing $300 million in equity and Qatar National Bank, which counts the emirate’s government as its biggest shareholder, is providing $100 million in loans, MEED reported.