Moving ahead on the road of self-sufficiency in petroleum products

Egypt has taken measures to ensure that it can achieve self-sufficiency in petroleum products by 2023.

Egypt succeeded in achieving self-sufficiency in natural gas in 2018, a painstaking process that took a lot of planning and work on the ground.

The government now has a plan to achieve self-sufficiency in petroleum products by 2023.

State authorities pay huge attention to the petroleum sector, considering it the backbone of economic growth.

The Egyptian government also believes that an integrated and sustainable energy strategy can be a main driver of economic and social development.

This is why it takes a series of steps on the road to achieving self-sufficiency in petroleum products.

To do this, state authorities are intensifying exploration operations. They are also following all scientific methods to increase production from wells already discovered.

The government is also raising the efficiency of the local refining system with the aim of increasing the amount of petroleum processed every year and responding to growing market needs.

The diversification of energy sources is also an important component of the integrated and sustainable energy strategy implemented nationwide.

Efforts are, meanwhile, made to rationalize consumption. This is being done through a number of projects that push the achievement of this objective forward.

The petroleum sector also moves ahead with the implementation of projects that aim at attracting additional foreign and local investments to it.

All these policies are paying off, according to a report released yesterday by the Cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Centre.

It said foreign investments in the petroleum sector increased by 5.4% in the fiscal year 2019/2020.

The investments rose to $7.8 billion in this fiscal year, compared to $7.4 billion only in the previous fiscal year, the center said in its report.

Local investments in the sector increased by 90.9% in the 2019/2020 fiscal year, amounting to 12.6 billion Egyptian pounds (roughly $812.9 million), compared to 6.6 billion pounds (about $425.8 million) in the 2014/2015 fiscal year, the center added.

It noted that petroleum product exports increased by 95% in the 2019/2020 fiscal year, amounting to $3.9 billion, compared to $2 billion only in the 2014/2015 fiscal year.

Petroleum product imports, the report said, dropped by 53.3% in the 2019/2020 fiscal year, reaching $4.3 billion, compared to $9.2 billion in the 2014/2015 fiscal year.

The report moved on to note that natural gas consumption increased by 27.7% in the fiscal year 2019/2020, reaching 60 billion cubic meters, compared to 47 billion cubic meters in the fiscal year 2014/2015.