Egypt's crude oil production hits highest level in two years
Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Engineer Karim Badawi, announced that the country’s crude oil production reached its highest level in approximately two years, thanks to the success of a strategy aimed at stimulating investment and boosting local production. This was achieved by settling payments owed to investment partners, which encouraged them to inject new investments and intensify exploration, development, and production activities.
He added that refinery utilization rates rose to about 80% this year, and the developments witnessed by the oil refining sector directly impacted exports. Oil product exports exceeded 2.3 million tons during the first half of 2026, equivalent to the total exports of the entire year 2025. Exports are expected to reach 2.5 million tons in the second half of the year. The value of oil product exports, including jet fuel, naphtha, waxes, and vacuum residue, amounted to approximately $2.3 billion between January and June 2026.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources announced that the petroleum sector, in cooperation with British company BP, has prepared to bring the “North Fayoum-4” well in the Mediterranean Sea onto the production map in the near future, with a production rate of 80 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.
In new developments regarding government divestments, Hashem Sayed Hashem, Assistant Prime Minister and CEO of the State-Owned Enterprises Monitoring Unit, stated that the selection of government companies for listing was based on a primary criterion: their readiness to comply with the Egyptian Stock Exchange’s listing rules. Twenty companies from the former Ministry of Public Business Sector were selected as the most prepared to meet listing requirements.
He added that during the launch ceremony of the Financial Regulatory Authority’s training program to build the readiness of listed government companies under “temporary listing” status at the stock exchange, an additional 10 companies are currently being prepared for listing. These include three companies from the public business sector and seven from the petroleum sector, bringing the total targeted companies to 30 (20 from the business sector and 10 from the petroleum sector). Several other companies still need to complete regulatory procedures and obtain approvals from various authorities to ensure full compliance with listing rules before their introduction to the stock exchange.
