Qalaa declares all units at ERC are a go

Qalaa declares all units at ERC are a go: The Egyptian Refining Company (ERC) has successfully begun hydrocracker operations, Qalaa Holdings said in a bourse filing on Thursday (pdf). With that, all the plant’s units are now operational, the firm said of its flagship project, which has drawn in USD 4.4 bn in investments. Qalaa, which holds a 13.14% stake in ERC, is banking on ERC to boost the company's profitability and expected it to start generating income in July. Chairman Ahmed Heikal said in May that he expects the refinery to generate EGP 50-55 bn in revenues next year. ERC had inked last month agreements with Suez Cement and Arabian Cement to supply 500k tonnes of petroleum coke each year.