Egypt’s petroleum sector attracted $6 billion worth of foreign direct investment (FDI) during 2020 despite the challenges posed by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla said.
The sector is advancing in implementing digital technologies with the launch of Egypt Upstream Gateway (EUG) which includes all data related to the petroleum sector as well as the upcoming tenders, El-Molla added in a statement on Tuesday.
On a side note, the minister said that the country implemented several steps to upgrade the sector’s infrastructure by raising the capacity of storage warehouses by 45%, increasing the establishment of pipelines by 90%, and boosting the capacity of ports by 85%.
The number of refuelling stations increased by 20% and the number of compressed natural gas (CNG) refuelling stations reached 351.
The number of vehicles converted to run on dual-fuel engines amounted to about 368,000, including around 42,000 cars during fiscal year (FY) 2019/2020.
It is planned to add another 400,000 cars by converting 150,000 cars and replacing 250,000 ones in three years, along with increasing the number of CNG refuelling stations.
The number of households with access to natural gas registered 12.5 million, of which 51% were connected during 34 years and the remaining 49% during the last seven years.
As part of the Hayah Karima initiative, the number of households connected to the natural gas grid is planned to be increased to 19 million.
Since 2014, the ministry signed 99 agreements for oil and gas exploration with minimum investments of $17 billion.
The sector also reached an all-time high production of 1.9 million barrels of equivalent oil during 2020.
