Canada Egypt Business Council (CEBC) and Egyptian Business Council for International Cooperation (ECIC) had the pleasure to host an event on Tuesday October 23^rd of 2018 with H.E. Eng. Tarek El Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, which was attended by distinguished guests such as the Minister of Environment, Dr. Yasmin Fouad; Dr. Ahmed Zaki Badr,  Former Minister of Education and Local Development; Dr. Hani Hilal, Former Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research; as well as several prominent figures & businessmen, who were highly interested to hear and follow up with the petroleum sector achievements under the title of “Egypt on the Oil & Gas World Map”.

In the opening remarks, Eng. Motaz Raslan welcomed the honorary guests and the respected speaker H.E. Eng. Tarek El Molla, then he started his speech mentioning that about two years ago, the council hosted the Minister of Petroleum, H.E. Eng. Tarek El Molla, where the picture of the sector was completely different. After passing though several crises, such as the gasoline crisis and the cylinders of the butane, the oil sector succeeded in overcoming these challenges and became a locomotive for economic development. This was achieved as a result of the hard work that contributed to the stability of the petroleum sector and the success in achieving gas self-sufficiency, which was an important turning point in the Egyptian economy, because it will get us away relatively from the fluctuations of international oil prices that are threatening many economies of the world.

Eng. Raslan added that the political stability of Egypt and the economic reforms implemented by the government make a great opportunity for Egypt to take a prominent position in the world of oil and gas market, especially after the steps taken to demarcate the border with Saudi Arabia and Cyprus, which gave the green light to start the exploration for oil and gas in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. In addition to many agreements with major international companies and mega projects that are occasionally put up for exploration; all these plans and efforts pave the way for Egypt to become center for trading of oil and gas in the region.

Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, H.E Eng. Tarek El-Mola, welcomed the attendees, then he discussed some aspects of the petroleum sector, recalling some of the achievements that had been made in the period from 2011 till now, where the state had suffered heavy losses after the revolution in 2011, due to lower production and accumulated external debts, which led to consecutive crises that hit the sector and felt by the ordinary citizen.  Despite these challenges, the sector succeeded in overcoming all the crises and challenges faced during 2011-2012 period, and was able in 2013 and 2014 to restore stability, then the period from 2015 to 2018 the sector completed the reforms in the oil and gas sector, where the ministry’s strategy adopted early planning to prevent any crises that may occur and succeeded in securing all the needs of the electricity sector, industry and domestic uses of gas and petroleum products.

The minister pointed out that in one year, four major Egyptian gas fields in the Mediterranean were put on the production map of oil fields which are Afr, Atul, Noras and North Alexandria, with an investment of about 27.2 billion dollars and a total production rate of 6.5 billion cubic feet per day. This is considered one of the most important successes of the ministry’s strategy, pointing out that the oil sector is currently implementing an ambitious program to develop and modernize the sector to meet the challenges of the coming period, focusing on achieving value added and optimal economic utilization of Egypt’s natural wealth, and to move forward in transforming Egypt into a regional center for trading oil and gas.

H.E El-Molla added that the strategy of the sector focus on main axes: increasing and diversifying energy supply and demand management, achieving financial sustainability by addressing debt arrears, reforming the subsidy system and dealing with internal debt, as well as improving sector management, structural reforms and encouraging private sector investments through legislation.

The Minister further explained that the goal of the sector development and modernization projects is to raise the efficiency of performance, reduce the cost of production and increase economic growth by attracting investments. This would also contribute to increasing national income, improving the fiscal deficit and providing foreign currency through increasing foreign exchange inflows, reducing the gas import bill and securing sustainable energy sources to meet the country’s needs of petroleum and natural gas.

He stressed that Egypt has succeeded in reducing the dues of the foreign partners to less than one third to reach 1.2 billion dollars, which is the lowest value since June 2010, and the ministry’s plan intended to continue to pay the full dues gradually in conjunction with regularity in the payment of the monthly bill to foreign partners who own shares in the oil and gas sector.

During the intervention of the Environmental Minister, Dr. Yasmin Fouad, she praised the constructive cooperation between the Ministries of Petroleum and Environment in ensuring the implementation of the environmental requirements of all petroleum projects to ensure the efficient use of natural resources without damaging the surrounding environment, and that the concept of sustainable development is of paramount importance to the application of environmental safety laws to ensure the rights of future generations.

The floor was then opened for Q&A session, considering the current situation of the mineral wealth sector and the plan of the Ministry of Petroleum to promote the mineral wealth sector in order to achieve a comprehensive development that contributes to attracting investments; through raising the efficiency of the system and supporting the state in comprehensive development.