ERC to recover costs from delay in refinery project in six years

Qalaa Holdings’ Egyptian Refining Company (ERC) expects to recover the cost of its delayed launch in six-years’ time, Managing Director Mohamed Saad told the press yesterday, Reuters reports. The company is on track to begin trial operations at the Mostorod facility in 3Q2018 and launch operations by the end of 2018 or early next year, he said. The project’s cost had risen to USD 4.2 bn from from USD 3.7 bn on the back of a 22-month delay due to financing issues. Banks and international funding institutions are providing as much as USD 2.9 bn in financing to the project, with shareholders providing the remaining USD 1.3 bn. The company will begin repaying its debts as of June 2019 and running for a 17-year period, Saad also said. Qalaa had said last week that ERC took on new finance and equity commitments.