Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla inaugurated the trial operations of the comprehensive development projects in the Egyptian Petrochemicals Company (EPC) factories in Alexandria.

The new developments included the chlorine production plant which was developed at an investment cost of about EGP 500 million.

The Minister of Petroleum also laid the foundation stone for the project to increase the production capacity of the caustic soda concentration unit in the company, which increases the production capacity of caustic soda by 150% with an estimated cost of EGP 250 million.

The minister further witnessed the signing of a contract between EPC and Petrojet to design, supply, and operate the new unit in order to maintain the continuity of operation with full production capacity and provision of storage capacity.

El Molla also inaugurated the trial operation of the new thermal cracking unit for the vinyl chloride monomer production plant and inspected the PVC polyvinyl chloride production plant.

El Molla pointed out the continuation of implementing a comprehensive development plan and raising the efficiency of the various public petroleum sector companies, with the aim of making the most of their assets and maximizing production from these companies.

The project to replace and renew the company’s assets has been completed and its factories and automated control rooms have been rehabilitated to keep pace with the latest technologies in accordance with international standard codes to maximize  production capacity, EPC’s Chairman, Ahmed Kamel, explained

Regarding the implementation of the new projects, Kamel indicated that the trial operation of the new thermal cracking unit at the vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) production plant started early last April. These operations are scheduled to be completed and the unit is to enter service at the end of May, to increase the production capacity of the factory by 125%.

The implementation rates of the fifth polymerization reactor in the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant were also accelerated, so that it could enter into service early in March 2023 instead of July of the same year. A study is also underway to implement a sixth polymerization reactor to raise the maximum capacity of the plant by 150% of current power.