Page 8 - AfrOil Week 42 2021

AfrOil PERFORMANCE AfrOil

Egypt on target to be self-sufficient

in gasoline and diesel by 2023

EGYPT EGYPT is on target to be self-sufficient in gas- the country’s oil and gas transport and storage
oline and diesel production by 2023, Petroleum infrastructure. Government-backed projects
Minister Tarek El Molla has said. have boosted petroleum product pipeline capac-
Speaking at a meeting of the Egyptian Petro- ity by 90%, or 122mn tpy, while port capacity
leum Association, El Molla said the country is up 85%, he said. Petroleum product storage
would be able to cover domestic demand for capacity is also up by 45%, while the number of
motor fuel because it was building seven new terminals has risen by 20%, he stated.
oil-processing plants. The new facilities will be Egypt has also managed to raise the number
able to turn out 6.2mn tonnes per year (tpy) of of natural gas filling stations to 369, marking an
gasoline and diesel by 2023, he said. increase of roughly 100%, he said. ™
He noted that the Egyptian government had
invested around EGP86bn ($5.47bn) in the con-
struction of these seven refineries. The project
will help the country reduce its dependence on
motor fuel imports, which constitute a large part
of Egypt’s overall trade deficit, he commented.
Meanwhile, he said, in addition to increasing
production, the government has simultaneously
adopted fuel consumption reduction measures
in a bid to address the trade deficit in refined
fuels. One of these measures is higher prices, he
stated, adding that consumer demand for gas-
oline and diesel had dropped by 30% following
the increase in pump prices.
El Molla also reported that the Petroleum
Ministry had made major strides in upgrading Egyptian fuel demand has dropped following pump price increases (File Photo)

Nigeria produced more crude

oil in September, OPEC says

NIGERIA NIGERIA’S oil production volume rose to bulk of its oil to Asian markets.
1.45mn barrels per day (bpd) in September, up OPEC expects this year’s global oil demand
from the figure 1.29mn bpd recorded in August, to grow by 5.8mn barrels per day (bpd) from the
according to new data published by OPEC on low 2020 levels, down from last month’s estimate
October 18. of 5.96mn bpd yearly growth.
Nigerian oil production has been unable to The Guardian reported that a surge in pipe-
regain previous highs because of the on going line sabotage, leading to a rise in crude theft and
challenges of disruptions and poor maintenance frequent shut down of oil export terminals, is
of facilities. The gradual disengagement of gov- undermining Nigeria’s capacity to earn a decent
ernment bureaucracy through the conversion income from the oil rally. At the same time, sub-
of the state-owned oil corporation (NNPC) into sidy payments, which are expected to rise in lieu
a full fledged commercial enterprise may yield of higher oil prices, have become a drain on the
positive changes in due course. purse of the central government.
With oil prices over $83 a barrel recently, In its latest Monthly Oil Market Report
Nigeria’s federal government is in a slightly (MOMR), OPEC says it expects global crude
stronger position to manage its budget deficit, as demand to average 100.8mn bpd in 2022. This
China has given permission to its independent would mark a rise of 4.2mn bpd on this year’s
refineries to stock oil purchase. Nigeria sells the predicted average. ™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 42 20•October•2021