Egypt has received a $200m loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to upgrade the Suez Refinery.

The plant is operated by the Suez Oil Processing Company, a subsidiary of the state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC).

The EBRD funds will finance the modernisation of the refinery to update technology and improve operational performance. The upgrade will increase the flexibility of the plant’s crude intake and allow for the production of higher quality fuels and low sulphur fuels.

The plant has a refining capacity of 68,000 barrels of oil per day (b/d) and 3 million tonnes a year (t/y) of petrochemical products. The facility is located at the entrance of the Suez Canal, adjacent to Suez city. It caters mostly to the local market, and the modernisation will boost the complex’s capacity to meet rising demand.

As part of the upgrade, the energy efficiency of the refinery will be improved, which is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 295,000 tonnes each year and result in estimated yearly savings of 300,000 megawatt hours of energy and 384,000 cubic metres of water.

EGPC is also planning to build a petrochemical complex in Suez. The petrochemical facility will utilise up to 3 million t/y of the diesel oil produced by the Suez refinery to produce 1.8 million t/y of refined products and 1 million t/y of petrochem products. A feasibility study for the new project has been completed.