Kuwait has expressed interest in entering into the Egyptian market, as a group of representatives from Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) had talks with Petroleum Minister, Tarek El-Molla (photo) as regards the possibility of refining the Kuwaiti oil in Egyptian refineries.

These talks included the expansion of shipping and storage facilities in SUMED’s location in Ain Sukhna and Sidi Kerir, as well as increasing storage capacity.

According to KPC’s Director General, Nabil Bouresli, this move is part of Kuwait’s strategy to increase oil production to 4 million bpd by 2020 and exploit Egypt’s strategic platform to expand in Europe.

He added that Kuwait intends to expand in the African market, by entering the Egyptian market.

Egypt was once a net LNG exporter from 2005 until 2014 before becoming one of the world’s newest major LNG importers because of the declining oil and gas production and rising consumption.

The country is currently making efforts to accelerate production at just discovered reserves to meet its energy needs.

Egypt at present produces around 3.9Bcf/d of gas and imports about another 1 to 1.1Bcf/d, Reuters reports.

Anita Fatunji