Tarek El Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, signed contracts with 6 European banks with a value of $1.5 billion to finance the construction of a new mazut hydrocracking complex at a refinery in Assiut. This took place as part of Egypt Petroleum Show (EGYPS 2022) activities. The construction work is planned to be completed during the last quarter of 2023.
Mazut is a low-quality fuel oil that is full of pollutants and is burned to produce electricity or fire boilers. The Assuit refinery will turn it into a Euro 5-grade diesel, gasoline, and other refined fuels in aims to cut down on the amount spent on oil imports.
El-Molla stated that the Assiut refinery is one of the most important projects in the Ministry’s strategic plan to modernize the refining sector in order to achieve self-sufficiency and adhere to international environmental standards.
The 6 banks are the Italian CDB, Bank Credit Agricole for Investment and Finance, UniCredit Italy, HSBC Bank Middle East, BNP Paribas France and Societe Generale France, with the guarantee of the Italian Export Development Corporation Sacchi.
The National Bank of Egypt and the National Bank of Kuwait will be the financial advisors for the project, Credit Agricole will be leading the the fund and acting as the general coordinator of financing, and HSBC Bank will be the general agent.
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