Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Wealth Tarek el-Molla opened expansion works of Al-Hamra Petroleum Port.
In statements on Sunday, Molla said the infrastructure of the oil sector in New Alamein provides a unique opportunity and privileges for such important sector that should be truly optimised in order to reach to targeted revenues.
During his tour in the area accompanied by a number of oil sector top officials, Molla explained that the implementation of the port’s expansion plans aims to transform it into a strategic centre on the Mediterranean coast for the circulation of crude and petroleum products.
He also noted that the ministry’s strategy works to maximise the benefit from the infrastructure of the petroleum sector and continuously raise its efficiency to play its vital role in Egypt’s national effort to transform into regional energy storage and trading hub.
The capacity of storage area in the port amounts to 400,000 tons, which could decrease the movement of oil trucks on the coastal road, he added.
The port expansions cover an area of 120 acres with the aim of increasing the storage capacity of the port facilities by adding four storage tanks with a capacity of 630,000 barrels of crude each, to reach a storage capacity of 5.3 million barrels to facilitate the movement of trading and receiving crude oil in the port of Al-Hamra.
Molla also listened to an explanation from President of the Western Sahara Petroleum Company (WEPCO), the operator of the port, Ibrahim Masoud who said that the second phase of expansion in the project would increase storage capacity to 8 million barrels.
This is in addition to the 420-acre plot of land adjacent to the area of the port of Al-Hamra, which will be used as an area for the circulation/distribution of petroleum products and a shipping station to serve the expansions of Al-Alamein area, he added.
During his tour, the minister listened to an explanation from Ibrahim Masoud, President of the Western Sahara Petroleum Company, WEPCO, the operator of the port, about the new expansion project.
A storage and handling area for petroleum products and a terminal for shipping them will be established next to the port on an area of 420 acres to serve the new city of Alamein, Masoud said, adding that the two new expansion areas add an area for the port up to 240% of its current area.
Molla also inaugurated a number of projects in Al-Hamra port including a solar energy station with a production capacity of 500 kilowatt. It is implemented by Gas Cool Company with total investments of EGP 11 million.
The minister also inspected the current development and modernization projects in the port facilities, where he inspected the operations of the latest crude storage warehouse that entered service in the port recently, which is warehouse No. 8 with a capacity of 630,000 barrels. Its construction was carried out by Petrojet as a general contractor in cooperation with Enppi, which is set to increase the storage capacity of crude in the port by half a million barrels to reach 2.8 million barrels of crude oil.
Molla also opened a new safety and security project at Hamra port to secure the needs of the new expansions.
