Egypt pushes for new energy body

Egypt’s Petroleum Minister Sherif Hadara has stressed the government must establish a new authority to run the country’s energy sector. Any new authority must increase oil production to one million barrels per day and push gas output to 7.5 million cubic metres, Hadara announced in a press conference on Friday. Energy expert Ramadan Aboul-Ela has claimed the government should allow independent technocrats to head a new state energy organisation – people with “suitable experience in the sector,” he added. Aboul-Ela added that a new body made up of “scientists and experts” could draft all-new policies for oil and gas sectors in Egypt, while the authorities should execute these policies in conjunction other ministries in earnest. Economic experts have previously stated that development in Egypt’s fledgling energy sector could pull the country out of a worsening economic crisis.