26JUL2019 - NEWS - Egypt and the European Union are stepping up cooperation towards realising the dream of a regional energy hub

Tarek Al-Molla, Egypt’s minister of petroleum and mineral resources, and Ivan Surkoš, head of the European Union delegation in Egypt, launched cooperation between the ministry and Belgium’s port of Antwerp last week to develop bunkering services in Egypt. 

Bunkering is the storage of petroleum products in tanks, and it also involves refuelling ships.

This is a step towards Egypt’s strategy to become a regional energy hub, and it is an outcome of the new round of energy dialogue between Egypt and the EU that took place last week to discuss speeding up the implementation of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on strategic cooperation in energy that was signed between the EU and Egypt in April 2018.

The aim of the cooperation with Antwerp, Surkoš said, was to develop the bunkering business in Egypt in line with the country’s oil and gas hub strategy. Antwerp is one of the largest ports in Europe. It is highly reputed worldwide in terms of trading in oil and liquefied natural gas bunkering.