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DMEA REFINING DMEA

Egypt to build new ADU at Assiut

AFRICA EGYPT’S Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral (MIDOR) is on schedule, with early operations
Resources announced that the Assiut National to begin by the end of the year ahead of full com-
Oil Processing Co. (ANOPC) has signed a mem- pletion in 2022.
orandum of understanding (MoU) with two Following a tour to inspect the facility near
local firms for the development of a new atmos- Alexandria, El Molla said that the first stage of
pheric distillation unit (ADU). the project has now been completed, allowing for
The $382mn deal was signed with contractors partial start-up.
Engineering for Petroleum and Process Indus- The overall project will increase the refin-
tries (ENPPI) and Petroleum Projects and Tech- ery’s throughput capacity from 100,000 bpd to
nical Consultations Co. (Petrojet), which will 160,000 bpd and increasing output of Euro-5
construct the facility with a processing capacity standard products.
of 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude at the The expansion includes the construction of
Assiut refinery around 400 km south of Cairo. new crude and vacuum distillation units (CDU
The facility is the main supplier of fuel to Upper & VDU), a diesel hydrotreater, a hydrogen unit,
Egypt. solvent de-asphalting. The capacities of existing
The MoU was signed by Majid Al-Kurdi, naphtha hydrotreater, naphtha splitter, isomeri-
head of ASORC, Enppi’s chairman and CEO sation, hydrocracker, LPG treatment & recovery
Ashraf Bahaa, and Petrojet’s chairman Waleed and sulphur plants are also being expanded.
Lotfy, in the presence of Minister of Petroleum
and Mineral Resources Tarek el Molla. Self-sufficiency
Meanwhile, the ministry said that the latest El Molla said that the country is carrying out a
contract is part of continuous efforts to expand major modernisation and expansion project
Assiut. In 2018, ANOPC hired TechnipFMC on its refineries to improve fuel supply security,
and ENPPI to proceed with the early works on hoping to become self-sufficient in petrochem-
the estimated $1.9bn project to install a hydro- icals by 2023. The programme includes invest-
cracking complex at the complex amid plans to ments of more than $14bn across five refining
add processing capacity of 50,000 bpd of heavy and petrochemicals projects.
fuel oil from the refinery into 1.6mn tonnes per In addition to increasing production, the
year (tpy) of Euro-5 diesel and 400,000 tpy of government has simultaneously adopted fuel
high-octane gasoline. consumption reduction measures, such as rais-
Australia’s Worley was then awarded a four- ing fuel prices, to address the refined oil prod-
year project management consultancy (PMC) ucts trade deficit. As a result of rising prices at the
contract for the so-called Assiut Hydrocracking pump consumer demand for gasoline and gas oil
Complex – covering the oversight of the basic fell by 30%.
engineering phase, an open-book estimate, and In addition, the ministry has made major
the detailed design, procurement and commis- strides in upgrading the infrastructure of oil
sioning of the scheme. and gas handling, transport and storage system,
ANOPC is a subsidiary of the Egyptian Gen- including a 90% increase in the capacities of
eral Petroleum Corp. (EGPC) and was set up petroleum product lines by 122mn tpy, an 85%
alongside the South Valley Holding Company increase in the capacity of ports, 45% in storage
for Oil and Nile Oil Marketing Co. which each capacities of petroleum products and a 20%
hold a 20% stake. increase in the number of terminals. Egypt has
In August, he announced that work to also managed to double the number of natural
expand capacity at the Middle East Oil Refinery gas fuelling service stations to 369.™

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