The Petroleum Ministry has set the quantity of natural gas required by Egypt’s industrial projects for the next fiscal year, beginning in July. The ministry will not supply additional amounts, but plans to increase quantities by a fixed proportion on a yearly basis.
The industrial sector is set to receive 14 billion cubic meters of gas in the 2010/11 fiscal year, to be increased by 1.1 million cubic meters the following year.
Industrialists, however, complain that these set quantities are not enough to allow them to achieve the government’s target of ten percent industrial growth in the coming four-year period.
"This will not help the industrial sector meet its export targets," said Walid Hilal, head of the Egyptian Chemical Industries Export Council.
In earlier statements, Mahmoud Latif, president of the state-run Natural Gas Holding Company, said that supplying the local market would take priority over other considerations.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
