Egypt’s Oil Minister, Tarek El-Molla (photo), held talks with British Ambassador to Cairo, John Casson, to enhance cooperation in the oil and natural gas industry.The two sides expressed ways of developing Egyptian-British ties and develop joint projects between the two states as UK is the largest investor in Egypt.

According to El-Molla, a considerable number of British companies have large projects in Egypt in the oil and gas production field, which reflects UK's commitment in developing Egyptian petroleum resources.He added that the mutual cooperation is the basis in enhancing economic ties between Egypt and UK, stating that the substantial results achieved by British companies in exploring and producing oil and gas in Egypt signifies an incentive to pump more investments.

The two sides during the meeting revealed that the North Alexandria project would be executed by British firms in Egypt.Phase 1 of North Alexandria project is expected to commence production by third quarter of 2017 as it will help in boosting Egypt's production of gas.

El-Molla noted that the petroleum sector is at present executing a lot of projects to develop refineries and expand in infrastructure to transport petroleum products.The sector is also implementing a series of petrochemical projects which are considered as a great chance for British companies to invest in, Amwalalghad news reports.

Anita Fatunji