Financial Observation: Egypt's Auto "Dual Fuel" New Deal Reflects the Strategic Layout of Natural Gas

　　Financial Observation: Egypt's Auto "Dual Fuel" New Deal Reflects the Strategic Layout of Natural Gas

　　Xinhua News Agency, Cairo, September 10 -

　　Xinhua News Agency reporter Yan Jing and Li Binian

　　Egyptian President Sisi recently announced that in order to protect the environment and make use of domestic natural gas resources, residents must install a fuel and natural gas "dual fuel" system before purchasing new cars.

　　In line with this policy, the Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry has promised that the government will allocate US$20 billion to refit domestic cars in stages and models and build 366 natural gas filling stations.

　　Egyptian economic analyst Abu Bakr Dib told Xinhua News Agency that since natural gas is cheaper than gasoline, the renewal of the vehicle fuel system will reduce the cost of cars for ordinary Egyptians by half.

In addition, this move will help make full use of Egypt's rich natural gas resources, reduce crude oil imports while protecting the environment, and save foreign exchange reserves.

　　Analysts said that Egypt introduced a new policy for automobile consumption because it has explored and exploited a series of large natural gas fields in the Mediterranean Sea in recent years.

Egypt not only achieves energy self-sufficiency, but is also committed to making itself a regional energy center in North Africa and the Mediterranean.

　　In 2015, the Italian company Eni discovered a giant offshore natural gas field in the exclusive economic zone of Egypt in the Mediterranean Sea, the Zur gas field, and began gas production in 2017.

　　When attending the oil and gas exhibition in early 2020, Egyptian Prime Minister Madbouli said that in recent years, Egypt's domestic petroleum and minerals sector has made unprecedented achievements, especially in 2018, it has achieved natural gas self-sufficiency.

　　On this basis, Egypt began to profit from natural gas exports.

According to data released by BP in August this year, Egypt's natural gas exports in 2019 were 4.5 billion cubic meters, more than double that of 2018, mainly to Europe, Asia and the Pacific Rim.

The data also shows that the output value of oil and natural gas accounted for 27% of Egypt's GDP in the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

　　In recent years, international capital is generally optimistic about the prospects of Egypt's oil and gas industry.

Since July 2014, Egypt has signed more than 80 oil and gas exploration contracts with investors from various countries.

　　In addition, natural gas extracted in the Mediterranean region needs to be liquefied before it can be exported.

Egypt is one of the few countries in the region with corresponding processing facilities and transportation channels, and has built natural gas liquefaction plants earlier than neighboring countries.

The good infrastructure of Egypt's natural gas industry has prompted breakthroughs in energy cooperation with neighboring countries.

　　At the beginning of 2019, the seven countries of Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Palestine and Egypt established the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum in Cairo. The industry generally believes that the forum will build a regional natural gas trading market, and neighboring countries will benefit from Egypt’s infrastructure, cut costs, and provide the market with more competitive energy.