Nicosia, Sept.19: Citadel Capital, an Egyptian private equity firm with investments in energy and cement, has awarded a 1.9 billion dollar contract to Japanese company Mitsui and South Korea’s GS Engineering.

The project, which represents one of the biggest engineering, procurement and construction projects ever signed in Egypt, provides for the creation of new hydrocracking facilities outside Cairo near the Musturud refinery, which is owned by the Cairo Oil Refining Company.

The new plant is designed to maximize the production of distillates through the cracking of heavier atmospheric residue, which will be supplied by the Cairo Oil Refining Company. The plant is expected to produce 2.2. million tons of diesel a year, and 700,000 tons of high octane gasoline a year.   

Citadel leads a consortium of Egyptian and Arab investors (with 85 percent of the share capital) and Egyptian Oil Companies (with the remaining 15percent).

Last Month Citadel’s Chairman Ahmed Heikal announced that the company would start building a 2.4 billion dollars oil refinery with an annual capacity of 5 million tons of refined products. (With Inputs from ANI)