$450 million investments.. Information about the green methanol project in Damietta

The accelerating climate crisis and growing concerns about energy security have fueled interest in green methanol, which is produced by combining green hydrogen extracted using clean electricity with renewable or recycled carbon dioxide.

In context level, the government announced that the cooperation project with the Norwegian company "Scatec" for the production of green methanol is working on producing 40,000 tons annually of bio-methanol.

This quantity can be increased to 200 thousand tons annually, at an initial investment cost of about 450 million US dollars, to be increased to 2 billion US dollars with the increase in production capacity.

The government pointed out that the "green methanol production" project is the first of its kind in Egypt and the Middle East region, and will include the establishment of the first station in Egypt to supply ships with green biofuel.

The Information and Decision Support Center in the Council of Ministers explained, on its official page on the social networking site “Facebook”, the most prominent details of the start of supplying the first ship with green methanol in Egypt, as follows:

- The Suez Canal Authority has a number of requests for ships to supply this type of fuel.

 - 450 million dollars, the value of the investments of the project, which will be established in Damietta.

 - Production of 40,000 tons annually of green methanol.

- Implementation of the project in partnership with the Norwegian company «Skatec». 

- The project includes the construction of a wind power plant with a capacity of 120 megawatts.

 - Establishment of a water desalination plant.

Green fuel to supply ships

The project, which Scatec attaches great importance to, will contribute to placing Egypt on the global map of countries producing this green fuel to supply ships, and will include the construction of renewable energy stations with capacities of no less than 40 megawatts for solar energy and 120 megawatts for wind energy, in addition to a green hydrogen analyzer with a capacity of 60 megawatts.

It is noteworthy that this project is one of two projects for green energies within the framework of the partnership between the Egyptian petroleum sector and the Scatec Company, after the conclusion of the green ammonia production project agreement at the end of last February with both the Egyptian Petrochemical Holding Company and the Mopco Company in Damietta.

Uses and advantages of green methanol

Freight, container and fishing fleets rely heavily on diesel-based heavy oils. Diesel, with its environmentally devastating effects on its production and leakage, is the main reason why the shipping sector is responsible for 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Methanol can reduce this footprint by up to 95% if the green methanol is manufactured using clean inputs, according to the Methanol Institute. Today methanol is usually made using fossil fuels, mostly natural gas.