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)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)