Egypt Takes Measures to Improve Energy Efficiency, Saves $42M Annually

 An oil refinery in Alexandria, Egypt. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
An oil refinery in Alexandria, Egypt. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Egypt Takes Measures to Improve Energy Efficiency, Saves $42M Annually

 An oil refinery in Alexandria, Egypt. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
An oil refinery in Alexandria, Egypt. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Egypt has managed to save EGP813 million ($42.4 million) annually by adopting measures to improve the energy efficiency in 31 petroleum companies.

In a statement on Monday, the Petroleum Ministry said the country’s petroleum and mineral resources sector is implementing an integrated work program to improve energy efficiency in all petroleum work sites and headquarters.

The move comes in line with the Fourth Program for Rationalizing and Improving Energy Efficiency within the Petroleum Sector Development and Modernization Project.

The Ministry said there are several ongoing investment projects to raise the energy efficiency, with total investments amounting to about $1.5 billion, to achieve energy savings and reduce carbon dioxide emissions at the Suez Oil Processing Company (SOPC) and the Dahshour compressor station at the Egyptian Natural Gas Company (GASCO).

Five technical reviews of energy efficiency are also currently being carried out, in cooperation with the European Union and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in the Assiut National Oil Processing Company (ANOPC) and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC).

They aim to open up new opportunities that could help in implementing investment projects to improve energy efficiency, the statement added.

Egypt has also joined the Global Methane Pledge Energy Pathway, through which it will seek to boost efforts to reduce methane emissions from the petroleum sector.

In June, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced that his country joined the Global Methane Pledge initiative.

Based on the expertise and funding provided by the initiative, Egypt, in cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), is “currently carrying out assessments and measurements of methane and volatile organic compound emissions from oil and natural gas facilities in seven sites affiliated with GASCO, Rashid, Egyptian LNG, Pharaonic Petroleum Company (PhPC), and Petroleum Pipelines Company (PPC) to determine measures and projects to reduce these emissions.”

The Ministry is also studying a plan to establish a center to improve energy efficiency and operational performance.

During the fifth Edition of Egypt Petroleum Show (EGYPS 2022), the Engineering for Petroleum and Process Industries Company (Enppi), Egyptian Projects Operation and Maintenance (EPROM) and JICA signed a memorandum of understanding to benefit from the international best practices in this regard, particularly in Japan, India and Thailand, the statement explained.

The statement further noted that Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla issued a decision to form the higher committee for rationalizing and improving energy efficiency in the petroleum sector.



Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
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Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)

The United States on Thursday called on Israel to extend its cooperation with Palestinian banks for another year, to avoid blocking vital transactions in the occupied West Bank.

"I am glad that Israel has allowed its banks to continue cooperating with Palestinian banks, but I remain convinced that a one-year extension of the waiver to facilitate this cooperation is needed," US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday, on the sidelines of a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Rio de Janeiro.

In May, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to cut off a vital banking channel between Israel and the West Bank in response to three European countries recognizing the State of Palestine.

On June 30, however, Smotrich extended a waiver that allows cooperation between Israel's banking system and Palestinian banks in the occupied West Bank for four months, according to Israeli media, according to AFP.

The Times of Israel newspaper reported that the decision on the waiver was made at a cabinet meeting in a "move that saw Israel legalize several West Bank settlement outposts."

The waiver was due to expire at the end of June, and the extension permitted Israeli banks to process payments for salaries and services to the Palestinian Authority in shekels, averting a blow to a Palestinian economy already devastated by the war in Gaza.

The Israeli threat raised serious concerns in the United States, which said at the time it feared "a humanitarian crisis" if banking ties were cut.

According to Washington, these banking channels are key to nearly $8 billion of imports from Israel to the West Bank, including electricity, water, fuel and food.