The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank, have agreed a project finance deal totalling $341m to Egypt’s Sonker Bunkering Company.

Local Commercial International Bank (CIB) is also extending finance.

The loan is to construct and operate a bulk-liquids terminal for the import and storage of gasoil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the third basin of Ain Sokhna Port on Egypt’s Gulf of Suez.

The senior loans will have a 10-year tenor, according to IFC plans.

The $417m project involves three Gasoil tanks with a total capacity of 100,000 cubic metres (cm), three LPG tanks with a capacity reaching 150,000 cm, a 4.3km LPG pipeline, a 37.5km Gasoil pipeline connecting to the national grid via Mina Sadat and related infrastructure.

The investment will allow the docking of two floating storage and regasification units and the handling of liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports to the national gas grid.

“Foreseeing the growing local demand for energy, the Egyptian authorities, supported us in developing this first bulk-liquids terminal on the Red Sea, as a successful public-private partnership project,” said Ossama Al Sharif, Sonker’s managing director, in a press release. “The Sonker Project will ensure a constant supply of energy to our burgeoning economy and will certainly transform the Red Sea area into a regional hub for trading petroleum products, not only for the Egyptian market, but also for East Africa and Europe.”

Sonker is owned by Amiral Holding Group, the Egyptian Ministry of Finance and the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum.

Egypt is being forced to import gas by rising domestic demand for electricity generation and industry.

BMI Research, a subsidiary of the Fitch Ratings, predicted that net imports would stabilise at around 7.5 billion cm in 2017 and stay at that level until at least 2020.

However, the discovery of the 30 trillion cubic feet Zohr gas field will supply Egypt’s domestic demand for several years.