Work on the 60,000 b/d hydrocracker based-expansion of the 90,000 b/d Assiut refinery in southern Egypt is finally set to begin in earnest after a $1.5bn financing package backed by Italian state credit guarantee agency Sace was finalized in late December.

This comes seven years after France’s TechnipEnergies (then TechnipFMC) was awarded an initial EPC contract way back in 2015. Technip’s deal was only finalized five years later with the firm announcing it was set to “commence work” in late 2020 (MEES, 4 December), though the firm’s more recent reports suggest only minimal progress since (MEES, 30 September 2022). (CONTINUED - 747 WORDS)