French banks Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas as well as Italy's CDP have signed a $1.2-billion loan deal with Egypt's Middle East Oil Refinery Co. for the oil processing plant's expansion.
The financing is equivalent to 80% of the total cost of the project, which will increase the refinery’s processing capacity to 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) from the current 100,000 bpd.