Food and other light industries can move inside city limits

Industry Ministry is opening residential areas to more industrial activities

The Industry Ministry is allowing 65 light industrial activities to legally operate within the city limits, with a new decree expanding the list of permitted urban industries from just 17, allowing more food processing and light manufacturing industries to operate from standalone buildings within urban areas.

Why it matters: These industries are within city limits anyway, but what’s new here is removing the red tape and luring them into the formal economy. By allowing low-impact businesses to legally operate within city limits, the massive capex required to relocate to remote industrial zones is gone. We will all breathe a bit easier knowing these businesses are operating under government oversight and adhering to strict health and quality standards, rather than remaining in the shade.

Egypt to boost crude storage on Red Sea in pitch to AD Ports

Egypt is working to expand its crude storage leasing on the Red Sea with a pitch to AD Ports, Asharq Business reports, citing a government official. Talks are underway to rent out warehouses for crude oil and refined products, with both sides aiming to close before the end of 2Q.

Leaning into the “hub” thesis: We have around 29 mn barrels of spare storage across our main ports, a figure that puts Egypt squarely in play for traders looking for optionality and strategic location. The country has 19 commercial ports, 14 under development, and nearly 79 petroleum storage facilities built or upgraded in recent years, according to Asharq.

We’ve already offered 10 crude and petroleum storage facilities for lease on the Red Sea, aiming to attract oil deliveries from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, and Qatar, while doubling storage capacity at its Sumed- and Ras Badran-associated facilities, a senior government official previously told us.

Enppi, SES partner on concentrated solar power

The petroleum-sector engineering arm Enppi is adding solar power to its technical toolbox, signing an MoU with local smart solutions firm Sustainable Energy Solutions (SES) to collaborate on concentrated solar power (CSP) and photovoltaics (PV), it said in a statement.

Why it matters: Enppi is leveraging its oil and gas DNA to tap straight into the high-barrier-to-entry technology CSP. Because CSP uses vast mirror arrays to focus light into a high-heat thermal source, generating the high-pressure steam and complex fluid dynamics that are Enppi’s core expertise. By targeting this tech, the firm is positioning itself to provide stable power for the kind of heavy-duty industrial and off-grid oil projects.