Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El-Molla, said that Egypt's success in the field of exporting natural gas and achieving revenue growth strongly support it to invest in clean energy and achieve the transition into reducing emissions.
He made his remarks at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference "ADIPEC 2021".
Molla pointed out that achieving the goal of transformation in the field of energy and reducing emissions is a key and global priority to the oil and gas industry.
He said that the positive transformations witnessed by the natural gas sector in Egypt during the last three years, made it a prime country in the export of liquefied natural gas during the first quarter of this year, at a rate of one million tons.
On the sidelines of the conference, Molla held talks with BP CEO Bernard Looney.
During the meeting, Molla explained that natural gas has become the first option for Egypt.
The two parties agreed to speed up the timetable for implementing new projects and technical measures to increase gas production rates, especially from the fields of Raven, Osiris, Satis, and Harmattan.
Moreover, a seismic survey project will be implemented with large investments during the next year, the minister continued.
Egypt is preparing an ambitious and practical national strategy for hydrogen as a low-carbon energy source, which includes working on the production of blue hydrogen in the short and medium-term, and then producing green hydrogen in the long term, Molla explained.
For his part, Looney expressed BP’s desire to enhance cooperation with the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources in the areas of energy transition and decarbonization, especially in the field of hydrogen to benefit from the resources and Egypt’s distinguished geographical location to access European markets.
In a related context, Molla held talks with Eni's Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi, and his accompanying delegation, on the sidelines of ADIPEC 2021.
The Egyptian minister stressed the importance of the strategic partnership between the petroleum sector and Eni, which has resulted in several successes over the past years.
For his part, Descalzi affirmed Eni’s intention to speed up the implementation of new projects to increase production in Egypt.
He indicated the company’s full readiness to provide the necessary support for the preparation of technical and economic studies for a project to transport and store carbon dioxide produced from industrial activities for wells, similar to the“HyNet” project implemented by Eni in Britain.
