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The state-owned Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Company (ECHEM), which is mandated to manage and develop the petrochemicals industry in Egypt, reviewed new and ongoing projects at the annual general meeting to discuss financial performance for fiscal 2021-2022.
The details shared in the press statement is summarised as under:
PROJECTS UNDER EXECUTION
Red Sea Suez Canal Corridor Petro-Refinery Project
Investment: $11.7 billion
Project company: Red Sea National Petrochemical Company
A consortium of ENPPI, Petrojet and Bechtel is working on the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) for the refinery-cum petrochemical complex, which will be located in Suez Canal Corridor – Industrial Zone.
An in-principal agreement has been signed with Saudi Aramco to secure crude oil feedstock for the project.
The project’s combined annual capacity of petrochemical and petroleum products will be 3.5 million tonnes.
MDF project
Investment: Approximately $272 million
Project company: Wood Technology Company (WOTECH)
The project aims to produce Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF) based on rice straw as a main feedstock. It will use 250,000 tonnes per year of rice straw to produce 205,000 cubic metres per year of MDF, substituting imports while reducing pollution resulting from the burning of straw.
Construction is underway - the engineering and procurement contractor is Siempelkamp while the construction contractor is Petrojet.
Alamein Petro-Refinery Complex
Investment: $6.7 billion for Phase 1
Project company: Alamein Company
The project aims to initially produce 2 million tonnes per year of petrochemical products and about 535,000 tonnes per year of petroleum products.
Project company has been established and detailed studies are underway
Bioethanol Project
Investment: $112 million
Project company: Egyptian Bioethanol Company
The project will use locally sourced beet molasses to produce 100,000 tonnes per annum of bioethanol.
Engineering designs and licensing have been completed, tender preparation is underway, and talks are on with local banks to finance the project.
NEW PROJECTS
Silicon Derivatives Complex Project
Investment: $700 million
The project will be established in New Alamein Industrial Zone to meet the supply deficit in silicon and maximise value-add as polysilicon is key input in the manufacturing of solar cells and electronic chips.
Soda Ash Production Project
Investment: $500 million
The project will be established up in the New Alamein Industrial Zone.
ECHEM petrochemicals production capacity stood at more than 4.3 million tonnes per annum in fiscal 2021-2022 compared to about 2.1 million tonnes per annum in 2015-2016. The company's total revenues during fiscal rose by 85 percent to reach more than 3.3 billion Egyptian pounds.
(Writing by Eman Hamed; Editing by Anoop Menon)
