A Fitch report published by the Egyptian government stated that Egypt is expected to lead the growth of the petrochemical sector in Africa in the medium term.
The report indicated that Egypt will lead the petrochemical sector through the development of new complexes utilizing the country’s large natural gas resources, noting that the sector will be critical to address weak supply chains in the manufacturing sector, which is seeing a rapid increase in imports. intermediate goods since the currency floated in 2016, as well as improving the supply of import-substituting goods is a necessary step to restore Egypt’s current account balance in the long term.
The report says that a number of projects are planned in the Suez Canal Economic Zone to take advantage of the country’s unique position on world trade routes to develop industries that enhance national self-sufficiency, develop the country’s industrial base and secure exports. income.
The report indicated that the agency noted that TCI Sanmar Chemicals, a wholly owned subsidiary of India’s Sanmar Group, plans to invest $15 million in Egypt in 2023 to expand its calcium chloride and vinyl chloride production capacity by introducing four production lines. . with a total capacity of 225 thousand tons per year.
In addition, vinyl chloride production is expected to rise to 350 thousand tons per year in March 2023 from about 245 tons in 2021, with a full production capacity of 400 thousand tons per year, to be reached by the end of 2023.
The report also indicated that Egypt produced about 552 thousand barrels per day of oil products in 2022, and by 2032 it will gradually increase to 659 thousand. An increase to 866.7 barrels per day is expected.
The report states that by 2027, the capacity for ethylene will reach 4.3 million tons per year, for polyethylene – about 4.0 million tons per year, for polypropylene – about 2.4 million tons per year, for polyvinyl chloride – about 0, 9 million tons per year, for polyethylene terephthalate – about 1.4 million tons. year.
Notably, the Egyptian Petrochemical Holding Company (ECCHEM) is pursuing many petrochemical projects, including the establishment of the Suez Methanol Derivatives Company, as well as the propylene and polypropylene, butadiene and fourth company. a methane gas processing and storage company, and a 110,000 tpa methanol derivatives plant was launched in Damietta in the third quarter of 2020, and the construction contract includes Sun Egypt Group, Wadi El Nile Development Company and Zafcom.
Source: RT
