Eng. Tarek El Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, witnessed via video conference the General Assembly meeting of the Egyptian Company for the Production of Ethylene and its Derivatives (ETHYDCO). During the Assembly, which witnessed a review of the company’s business results during the year 2023, economic and productivity indicators, and performance development plans, Eng. Tariq Al-Mulla praised the employees of ETHYDCO for the results achieved and asked them to continue and further progress and development.
During the Assembly, the Minister and the audience listened to a presentation by chemist Hisham Riad, President of ETHYDCO, in which he explained that the company had achieved its production plan by 109% of the target, as the company succeeded in producing 333 thousand tons of polyethylene for the local market and export, achieving polyethylene sales worth 5.7 billion pounds and 214 million dollars, as well as the production of 326 thousand tons of ethylene, and the percentage of revenue increased to 34%. New markets were also opened to export the company’s products to Ghana, Nigeria, Niger, Sweden, and Russia.
Riad pointed-out to maximizing the benefit of the competitive advantage of the company’s diversity of different types of polyethylene products, and that according the company’s commitment to the directives of the political leadership to enhance partnership with the private sector to provide the needs of the local market for basic raw materials necessary for national projects, ETHYDCO signed a cooperation protocol with one of the private sector companies for coloring polyethylene raw materials used in the manufacture of pipes, with a total of 50 thousand tons annually, to meet the increasing demand for it, export the surplus, save foreign currencies, and maximize the local component.
Riad added that within the framework of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources’ strategy to achieve sustainability, ETHYDCO succeeded at early 2024 in exporting the first shipment of recycled polyethylene to Spain, thus applying the strategy of recycling incomplete products to produce a final product of high value. Production began in October 2023 and was met with great demand. Significant growth in the local market, which contributes to controlling costs, rationalizing the use of natural resources, and working as part of environmental solutions. In order to achieve optimal exploitation of assets and improve the economic model for the cost of electrical energy, ETHYDCO continues to sell surplus electricity to the Taqa Company for Industrial Estates with a capacity of 40 megawatts, in addition to providing facilities to GASCO, as well as feeding one of the private sector factories. The benefit of the secondary products is also maximized by exporting or selling them locally, which contributes to increasing the added value instead of using it as a fire fuel, as raffinate sales increased this year by 36% compared to 2022. During the year 2023.
ETHYDCO has further succeeded in maintaining its distinguished record in safety and safe working hours, which amounted to about 2.7 million safe working hours. The company also began implementing the Safety Case project, and work progress reached to 80%, in continuation of ETHYDCO’s journey in the field of process safety, as it was the first company in Egypt to obtain a performance evaluation certificate in the safety of operational processes from DNV Company. This year, ETHYDCO began a new phase to renew the certificate to a higher level.
ETHYDCO has also made a major stride in implementing the integrated system for resource management and achieving the goals of digital transformation within the strategy of developing and modernizing the petroleum sector to achieve the automation of information flow. Between all subsidiaries and the Ministry to provide accurate, updated indicators and data to support the decision makers. ETHYDCO’s efforts in the field of social responsibility and its role in implementing initiatives in the fields of education, health, human care and improving living conditions were also reviewed. The General Assembly work was attended by accountant Ashraf Abdullah, assistant minister for financial and economic affairs, Eng. Ibrahim Makki, head of the Egyptian Petrochemical Holding Company, Eng. Hassanein Mohamed, head of the central administration of the minister’s office, and Accountant Ashraf Qutb, head of the central administration for financial and economic affairs in the ministry.
