Cairo – Mubasher: Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly outlined government efforts to prevent further outages following blackouts caused by surging demand.

Madbouly highlighted the coordination among the ministries of electricity, petroleum, and finance on a summer plan addressing unprecedented temperatures, according to an official statement.

Two days ago, the petroleum minister proposed increasing mazut reserves at power plants by 300,000 tonnes, valued at $180 million, which was immediately approved, Madbouly said.

Ministers then determined that an additional $1.18 billion was needed for LNG and mazut shipments to ensure zero outages over the summer, equating to EGP 57 billion, the prime minister added.

Madbouly directed the petroleum ministry to immediately contract for the cargoes, while the finance ministry manages local currency funds.

Outages will be reduced to three hours this week, then two hours starting next week, and will gradually decrease until end completely with the arrival of LNG shipments, he announced.