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Egypt to complete refinery project before 2024

9 May 2023

The project to expand and upgrade Egypt’s Middle East Oil Refinery (Midor) facility is expected to be completed and commissioned before the end of the year, according to industry sources.

The project has an investment value of $2.4bn, according to the country’s Petroleum & Mineral Resources Ministry, and is expected to increase the refinery’s capacity by 60 per cent.

The project is progressing after significant delays over recent years, sources close to the project told MEED.

“Some of the units are operational,” said one source. “All of the units are expected to be operational and fully commissioned by the end of the year.”

Previously the project was scheduled to be commissioned in 2022.

The project is being executed by a consortium of French oil and gas contractor TechnipFMC in partnership with state-owned Egyptian contractor Petrojet and Enppi, a subsidiary of Egypt’s national oil company Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC).

TechnipFMC said in November 2019 that it had been awarded the main engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the project, located near Alexandria.

At the time, TechnipFMC said the contract was worth more than $1bn.

Regional projects tracker MEED Projects estimates that the main contract was worth about $1.7bn.

Italian investment bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) Group has provided financing worth $1.2bn to TechnipFMC and to 100 other Italian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) working on the project.

The funding was guaranteed by Italian lender Sace and granted by CDP, Credit Agricole CIB and BNP Paribas Fortis – with Sace and CDP acting as mandated lead arrangers.

TechnipFMC’s contract covers the debottlenecking of existing units, the delivery of new units including a crude and vacuum distillation unit and a hydrogen production facility based on the firm’s steam reforming technology, as well as various process units, interconnecting elements, offsites and utilities.

The project will increase the complex’s crude refining capacity to 160,000 barrels a day. Once completed, the revamped Midor facility will produce Euro 5 products.

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Wil Crisp

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