Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum stressed the important role of petrochemical projects in supporting the national economy in a press statement on Wednesday. Chairperson of the Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Company (ECHEM), Saad Helal, said that several petrochemical projects are being implemented currently with investments estimated at more than $2bn.
This came during ECHEM’s general assembly to approve the financial results for the fiscal year (FY) 2018/19.
Helal said that the most important of these projects are the Suez Methanol Derivatives (SMD), the Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals Company (Sidpec), and the Egyptian Ethylene and Derivatives Company, (Ethydco).
Moreover, Helal highlighted the establishment of the Petrochemicals Logistics Services Company (Petrolog) for storage and handling of Ethane, Hexane, Raffinate, Butadiene, and the production of Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF) from Egyptian rice straw with investments worth €210m, and a production capacity of 205,000 cubic metres, annually, based on the annual amount of 245,000 tonnes of rice straw as a raw material.
He pointed out that the promotion of the establishment of a refinery and petrochemical complex in the New Alamein complex is currently under study, with initial cost estimates at $8.5bn. The complex would have a capacity of 2.5m tonnes per year.
