Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla inaugurated the 8th Egypt Oil & Gas Convention, which was organized by Egypt Oil and Gas Corporation, during the period from 27 to 29 November 2022, to discuss efforts to achieve a balance between the sustainability of securing energy supplies and reducing emissions.

Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla stated that the petroleum sector’s successes came from cooperation, interdependence, and teamwork on an integrated program in partnership between the sector’s entities with the state, the private sector and international companies, with the full support of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, the government and everyone’s belief in the message, vision and cooperation together, then we succeeded in expressing ourselves and our industry.

He said efforts exerted over the past years have made of Egypt one of the solutions to the ongoing energy problem, affirm8ng that Egypt is ready to meet some of the demand for natural gas in Europe.

Talking figures, the minister said that last year Egypt exported some seven million tons of liquefied natural gas – 80 percent of which went to European Union (EU) markets.

He added that this year, exports totaled around eight million tons, with 90 percent going to Europe.

El-Molla also said that successes of the petroleum sector in Egypt are credited to an integrated program implemented in partnership between the public and private sector and fully supported by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and the government.

He highlighted that the petroleum sector is also seeking mechanisms of action that would maximize cooperation with international partners to be able to make optimal use of natural resources, potentials and cadres.

He said he is optimistic about future success stories in light of continued and fruitful cooperation between local and international petroleum companies.

He urged that all parties should unite to achieve goals of the Petroleum Ministry’s strategy, atop of which increasing and sustaining oil production, as well as reducing emissions.

The conference witnessed the handing out of awards in the fields of operations efficiency in obsolete fields, where WEPCO won the first place for its efforts to double the production of Badr 1 fields, and Kuwait Energy won the second place for its integrated strategy to develop aging fields in Ras Ghareb.

As for the emissions reduction award, The Apache company won the first place for what it achieved in reducing emissions by 40% of the flare gases in all its operations in Egypt. While Kuwait Energy won second place for the Maternity and Child Care Clinics Project in Ras Ghareb.

The Energy Security Roundtable

Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla chaired the Energy Security Roundtable held during the 8th Egypt Oil & Gas Convention, which witnessed the participation of ministry leaders, chairmen of holding companies and many leaders of international oil companies operating in Egypt.

The roundtable was moderated by EOG Committee Chairman David Chi, who is also the Vice-President of Apache Corporation and Country Manager for Apache in Egypt. Chi emphasized the importance of the conference’s theme and its close connection to the topics of COP27, which Egypt successfully hosted recently.

During the roundtable, El Molla highlighted the importance of the ongoing dialogue between the petroleum sector and its global partners to discuss common priorities to meet the current global challenges and changes. The priorities are energy efficiency and securing its supplies through increasing low-carbon production.

El Molla stated that there is an agreement to support the joint vision to achieve success in the energy transition phase. He further highlighted that natural gas is a basic option for the transition as well as the importance of using technology to reduce emissions from industrial activities as part of a joint roadmap for implementation.

The roundtable included a presentation prepared by Wood Mackenzie on global energy security in light of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis as well as its impact on the energy transition and Egypt.