TODAY: Scatec will help build Egypt’s first green methanol plant

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Monday, 15 May 2023

TODAY: Scatec will help build Egypt’s first green methanol plant

Good morning, friends, and welcome to what is shaping up to be a busy week. We have plenty of regional climate news to jump into, but first…

The Enterprise Exports and FDI Forum is taking place today at the Four Seasons Nile Plaza. The event will see CEOs, top execs, bankers, and development finance folks attempt to solve the biggest economic issue of our time: How do we get out of our FX crunch by boosting exports and raising foreign direct investment.

We are very grateful for the interest we’ve seen from many of you and we cannot wait to meet those attending.

** Attendees who have confirmed and RSVP'd to their personal invitations do not need a QR code to enter the venue, but please do bring a business card you can give us in exchange for your name tag and lanyard.

The event kicks off with an 8am networking breakfast, with the opening panels starting at 9am.

Who can you expect to see there? Our friend Mohamed El Gebely, team leader at USAID Trade: Mohamed El Gebely is going to be speaking at the forum on how SMEs can be part of an export-oriented economy through the vehicle of industrial clusters. He is joined on stage for that discussion by Shady William, managing director of IDG, and Nada El Ahwal, CSO of Transmar, who will explain how Egypt can better leverage industrial clusters to boost exports.

Who else is speaking (in no particular order)? Hossam Abou Moussa, partner at Apis, Hassan Massoud, associate director and head of private equity (Southern Mediterranean) at the EBRD, Tarek Kamel, CEO of Nestle Egypt; Omar Elsahy, general manager of Amazon Egypt; Khaled Morsy, CEO of DB Schenker; Mohamed Talaat Khalifa, CEO of Concrete; Mark Wyllie, CEO of Beyti; Kareem Abou Ghaly, chairman and CEO of Pasta Regina; Yasmine Khamis, chair of the Orientals Group, Cheick-Oumar Sylla, director for North Africa and Horn of Africa at the IFC; Hossam Sallab, CEO and vice-chairman of Sallab Group and Royal Ceramica; Tarek Hosny, head of investments and projects at Fertiglobe; Helmy Ghazi, deputy CEO of HSBC Egypt; Shams Eweis, corporate affairs director, Egypt, North Africa and Levant at Mars; Nadia El-Tawil, investment officer at AfricInvest, Mostafa Bedeir, CEO of Giza Seeds and Herbs, Abdallah Sallam, CEO at Madinet Masr; and Yassir Zouaoui, partner at McKinsey.

Topics and live interviews will include:

How to attract foreign partners and figure out what they are looking for;
What lessons can we draw from food, fertilizers, and garments exporters who have increased our exports;
What are the fundamentals to creating an export and / or FDI strategy;
What it takes to secure a place in a multinational’s supply chain.
How industrial clusters could expedite exports, FDI and possibly be an avenue for SME development;
What are the industries of tomorrow around which we can export and bring in FDI.

Tap or click here to explore the full agenda.

THE BIG CLIMATE STORY- Egypt’s Alexandria National Refining & Petrochemicals signed a cooperation agreement with Norwegian renewables developer Scatec to jointly establish the country’s first green methanol production facility and Taqa Morocco — a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) and Morocco’s largest private electricity producer — launched Taqa Morocco Green, a new subsidiary which will manage the company’s solar projects and produce green hydrogen.

^^ We have the details on these stories and more in the news well, below.

THE BIG CLIMATE STORY OUTSIDE THE REGION- US announces first emission slashing plan for existing plants: The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled a proposal on Thursday setting quotas for emissions from operational power plants across the US. If approved, the new proposal would compel energy companies to use carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) infrastructure to push down their CO2 emissions in a bid to mitigate some 617 mn tons of CO2 equivalent between 2028 and 2042, according to EPA projections. Coal-fired plants operating past 2040 will be required to adopt CCUS tech no later than 2030 under the new plan. The EPA says its climate action proposal — which has been in the works for 18 months — would also prevent some 300k pollution-induced asthma attacks and an estimated 1.3k premature deaths in 2030 alone.

OVER IN COPLAND- Marshalling the big polluters to “co-create the future”? COP28 President-Designate Sultan Al Jaber called on representatives of the oil and gas industry and other top-emitting industries to work collectively to find tangible solutions for decarbonization and emission reduction, Wam reported on Thursday. He made the statements at a CEO roundtable on the sidelines of the UAE Climate Tech forum, where he asked stakeholders to support the decarbonization efforts of other industries and adopt frameworks for reporting and verifying emissions.

A transition that leaves no one behind: “The transition to a low and eventually no carbon economy will require a collective and concerted effort from all stakeholders. We need to reimagine the relationship between energy producers and industrial consumers, from one based purely on supply and demand to one that is focused on co-creating the future … our goal must be to hold back emissions, not progress,” Al Jaber said.

Emissions should be significantly slashed to keep the 1.5°C goal alive: Al Jaber called on attendees of the Abu Dhabi-hosted conference to accelerate the development and deployment of technological solutions to decarbonize economies and slash emissions by at least 40% by 2030 in line with a Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, Wam reported last week. “The science is already telling us that we are way off track. The latest IPCC report has confirmed that the world must reduce emissions 43% by 2030, and that’s if we are serious about keeping the ambition of 1.5°C alive. At the same time, we know that global energy demand will continue to increase because an additional half a billion people will join us on this planet by 2030.”

MEANWHILE- Loss and damage adaptation support from G20 proof of COP27 achievements: Egypt’s UN high-level climate champion and UN Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Agenda Mahmoud Mohieldin noted the G20’s support for COP27 outcomes on loss and damage and adaptation financing during the annual meeting of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group in Jeddah, which wrapped yesterday, Ahram Online reports. Mohieldin called for improved debt relief structures catering to climate-vulnerable countries, increased use of carbon markets as a tool to channel climate financing for development projects, and increased climate funding and targets from private sector players.

PSA- Irena launches its NewGen Renewable Energy Accelerator: The International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) launched its NewGen Renewable Energy Accelerator during the World Utilities Congress in Abu Dhabi on Thursday. The startup accelerator — established with help from the UAE government and nonprofits Social Alpha and Enel Foundation — will provide mentorship and investment matchmaking opportunities for young entrepreneurs and startups with climate-focused projects in areas including energy storage, grid integration, and energy efficiency. Applications are open for any climate-focused business, whether it be a startup, scale-up, or a growth business, as long as one of its founders is between 18 and 35 years old. The first cut-off deadline for applications is 9 June and the second is 8 July 2023.

WATCH THIS SPACE #1- TotalEnergies is expected to start operations on a USD 27 bn oil, gas, and renewables project in Iraq in the second half of this year, Iraq’s deputy oil minister said on Friday, Reuters reported. The French oil giant is in the process of finalizing the side-contract with Iraq’s state-owned Basra Oil Company (BOC) to actualize the contract and begin construction of a 1 GW solar power plant to supply the Basra regional grid, a flared gas recovery system on three oil fields, and a seawater treatment plant.

REMEMBER- The agreement had been delayed for 18 months due to disagreements on project ownership between BOC, TotalEnergies, and QatarEnergy, which were resolved last month after BOC agreed to a stake of 30%, TotalEnergies secured a 45% stake, and QatarEnergy grabbed the remaining 25%.

WATCH THIS SPACE #2- Aramco dismisses reports it is backtracking on blue hydrogen investments: Saudi oil giant Aramco says plans to produce 11 mn tons of blue hydrogen annually by 2030 are still intact, dismissing a report last week the company would focus on natgas exports due to a lack of interest in the clean energy source, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Friday. Aramco CEO Amin Nasser was quoted as saying last week that the company was having difficulties securing off-take agreements and would not sanction investment decisions for blue hydrogen exports.

WATCH THIS SPACE #3- Masdar, Irena to establish a path to tripling renewables by 2030: Masdar signed an MoU with the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) to establish a roadmap for tripling global renewable energy capacity by 2030, Wam reported last week. Through joint research based on region-specific data, the roadmap will outline global targets for renewable energy — including solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and battery storage — by 2030, and will highlight the challenges and recommendations for action ahead of COP28 in the UAE in November. The agreement was signed by Masdar CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi and Irena Deputy Director-General Gauri Singh on the sidelines of the Climate Tech project in Abu Dhabi.

WATCH THIS SPACE #4- Lucid isn’t doing so well: Pessimistic quarterly results and production outlook cuts from EV maker Lucid Group — who counts KSA’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) as a majority shareholder — could undermine Saudi Arabia’s plans to build its own EV industry, Reuters reported last week. The California-based EV maker reported quarterly revenue of USD 149.4 mn, down from an average estimate by analysts of USD 209.9 mn, according to Refinitv data. Its quarterly losses widened to USD 779.5 mn, up from USD 604.6 mn in the same quarter last year, according to its earnings release. The disappointing quarterly performance has pushed the EV manufacturer to revise its annual production plan this year to manufacture over 10k of its luxury EV sedans, down from a previous production plan forecast of up to 14k.

PIF won’t be liking this: Plunging share prices on the back of the losses have pushed PIF’s stake down to c. USD 8 bn, according to Reuters calculations. PIF — which owns a 60.46% stake in the US-based company — made investments in Lucid worth USD 17.4 bn in mid-2022 and c. USD 26 bn when the company was listed in 2021, according to the business newswire.

WATCH THIS SPACE #5- Acwa Power to complete final financing round for Neom green hydrogen project this quarter: Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power is expecting to finish its second and final round of financing for its mega green hydrogen project in Neom this quarter, Acwa Power Executive Director of Financial Affairs Abdulhameed Al Muhaidib said in a recorded statement carried by Asharq Business last week (watch, at minute 4:45). KSA’s Neom Green Hydrogen Company (NGHC) signed several financing agreements in March worth a collective USD 8.5 bn to fund the development of its utility-scale green hydrogen facility. Al Muhaidib said the financing represents 74% of the project’s cost and was raised by 25 different banks (watch, at minute 5:10).

Acwa Power is studying 20 other projects in the region: Acwa Power is currently studying another 20 projects — half based in Saudi Arabia and the other half across 12 other countries — with the UAE and Uzbekistan securing the top spots due to their ambitious renewable targets, Al Muhaidib said (watch, at minute 4:03).

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CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Japan will host the G7 Hiroshima Summit from 19 May to 21 May in Hiroshima. One of the key topics addressed at the summit will be ensuring energy security with the goal of achieving net zero by 2050 based on the Paris Agreement.

Oman will host the Power and Energy Conference from 22 May to 25 May in Muscat. The event will bring together local and global industry leaders to discuss global energy market policy updates, future demand and growth projections in the sector, integration and power grid obstacles, and growth potential associated with renewables and EV deployments.

Germany will host the second meeting of the COP27 Transitional Committee from 25 May to 27 of May in Bonn. The meeting will build on the loss and damage fund established during COP27 with the aim of establishing institutional mechanisms and governance structures for financing, and will bring together a host of international financial institutions to discuss pathways to increasing funding capacity for climate vulnerable countries.

The UAE will host the Electric Vehicle Innovation Summit from 29 May to 31 May in Abu Dhabi. The conference will bring together state representatives, industry players from the EV sector, as well as engineers and researchers to discuss policy trends and tech innovations in the industry and provide attendees with networking opportunities across value chains.

Qatar will host the Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) Forum from 29 May to 31 May in Lusail City. The event aims to spotlight MENA’s CCUS regulations and policies, map out paths and business models that would bring down CCUS project costs, promote regional and international cooperation to advance the international carbon capture sector, and discuss the role CCUS will play in helping Gulf countries meet their net zero targets.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events and news triggers.