Egypt’s Alexandria National Refining and Petrochemicals Company (ANRPC) has announced a $300m project to expand its existing refinery in the Alexandria governorate.

“This expansion is critical as it will significantly reduce the amount of high-octane gasoline imported by Egypt,” said ANRPC chairman Ahmed Abo el-Rooh in a statement released on 1 September.

Egypt became a net importer of gasoline in 2008 as local producers struggled to keep up with demand, which has grown by an average of 3 per cent annually over the past 10 years.

The project will add a second continuous catalytic regeneration (CCR) unit to the existing refinery. This will increase the facility’s capacity to produce high-quality reformate, which is used in the production of high-octane, low-sulphur gasoline.

The CCR unit will be supplied by UOP, a subsidiary of US-based conglomerate Honeywell.

Currently, the ANRPC refinery has a capacity of 16,000 barrels a day (b/d).

Egypt is Africa’s biggest refiner, with a capacity of 740,000 b/d, about 5 per cent of the continent’s total capacity.

The expansion of the ANRPC refinery comes at the same time as plans for the expansion of the Middle East Oil Refineries (Midor) 100,000-b/d facility, which is also located in Alexandria.

Under current plans, the Midor facility will see its capacity increased to 160,000 b/d. The project is due to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2017.