Egypt’s petroleum products consumption is falling by about 5% during the winter due to the decline in power stations’ needs for diesel and fuel oil, as homes and vehicles stopped using air conditioners.
A senior official at the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) told Daily News Egypt that reducing the deficit between domestic gasoline production and consumption by 3.8% during the current fiscal year, bringing the total domestic production to about 7.6m tonnes annually against 8m tonnes consumption.
He added that the domestic production of diesel will increase to about 14.7m tonnes annually during the current fiscal year, against 16.8m tonnes consumption, which reduces the deficit to about 12.5%.
The source pointed out that the production of butane will increase to 2.6m tonnes per year against about 3.9m tonnes of domestic consumption, to reduce the deficit by 33.3%.
The source pointed out that the production of jet fuel domestically increased to 4.1m tonnes annually, while the domestic consumption stands at about 670,000 tonnes, which achieves a surplus of 3.43m tonnes during the current fiscal year.
He explained that the increase in domestic production of petroleum products is a result of the exploitation the country’s refining capacities, as the country tends now to importing crude oil instead of derivatives, which provides millions of dollars to the state treasury.
Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El-Molla, said in previous statements that work is underway to secure crude oil supplies for Egyptian refineries through importation to increase domestic production of fuel.
He pointed out that the ministry is seeking to complete the project of extending the Iraqi oil pipeline expected to be established between Basra and Aqaba to the Egyptian lands and coasts.
He added that it is aimed to achieve self-sufficiency of fuel and petroleum products in conjunction with the completion of the implementation and operation of all new expansions of Egyptian refineries during the year 2022/23.
The source explained that the rate of consumption of petroleum products, gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, domestically represents about 4% annually, with the consumption of gas stove by about 2% annually due to the expansion of the plan to deliver natural gas to residential units.
Egypt has about eight crude oil refineries with a production capacity of 38m tonnes, of which about 25m tonnes are used annually.
