The founding general assembly of Fujairah Alamein for Oil and Gas S.A.E. convened at El-Hamra Petroleum Port in New Alamein on Tuesday 1 September, completing the incorporation of a joint Egyptian-Emirati stock company that will store, handle and trade crude oil and petroleum products, according to Ahram Online. The port is operated by the Western Desert Operating Petroleum Company, known as WEPCO.
The company's business sits inside a special free zone that Egypt's cabinet approved two weeks earlier. Decree No. 65 of 2026, issued in August, set the zone's area at 737,915 square metres and attached two conditions to it: the company must export its entire annual production to international markets, and locally sourced components must account for at least 50 per cent of what it produces, Egypt Oil & Gas reported.
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly attended the assembly alongside Mohammed Saeed Al Dhanhani, described by Zawya and Egypt Oil & Gas as director of the Fujairah Emiri Diwan and by Ahram Online as director of the Fujairah Executive Council. Also present were Karim Badawi, Egypt's Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources; Salah Abdel Kerim of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, whom Zawya identified as its chairman and Egypt Oil & Gas as its chief executive; Ibrahim Massoud, chairman of both WEPCO and of Fujairah Alamein; and Hani Abdel-Moneim, chief executive of the Fujairah oil and gas corporation on the Emirati side.
What the company is being set up to do
The stated activity is narrow and physical: storing, handling and trading crude oil and refined petroleum products at a Mediterranean port. Ahram Online reported that the venture is intended to upgrade the Hamra Petroleum Port to international standards and to replicate the storage and bunkering model of the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone, the free zone on the UAE's east coast that gives the emirate its position in ship refuelling and oil storage. Zawya reported that the plan includes developing the port in cooperation with the Fujairah oil and gas corporation, with crude oil stored at the port's facilities.
That comparison is the substance of the deal rather than decoration. Fujairah's business model is built on tank capacity next to shipping lanes: traders lease storage, blend cargoes and refuel vessels without the oil ever entering the local economy. The 100 per cent export requirement written into the Egyptian decree points at the same structure — product moves through Egypt rather than into it. What Egypt supplies is the coastline, the port and the regulatory wrapper; what Fujairah is expected to supply is the operating know-how, with officials describing technology transfer as part of the arrangement.
Who owns what has not been published
None of the accounts published so far state the shareholding split between the Egyptian and Emirati sides, and none give the company's capital. The Egyptian participation is visible through its institutions rather than its percentages: the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation was represented at the founding assembly, WEPCO operates the port, and WEPCO's chairman also chairs the new company. On the Emirati side, the Fujairah oil and gas corporation is the counterpart named in the reporting, and Al Dhanhani attended on behalf of the emirate's leadership.
What has been disclosed is the legal and physical envelope the company will work inside:
- The corporate vehicle: Fujairah Alamein for Oil and Gas S.A.E., a joint Egyptian-Emirati stock company, incorporation completed 1 September 2026.
- The site: a special free zone of 737,915 square metres at El-Hamra Petroleum Port, New Alamein, on the southern side of the Alexandria-Matrouh coastal road in Matrouh governorate.
- The legal basis: Decree No. 65 of 2026, approved in August 2026, following three agreements signed in 2025 between Egypt and the emirate of Fujairah on developing a Fujairah-Alamein logistics zone for crude oil and petroleum products.
- The conditions: all annual production exported, and a minimum of 50 per cent local content in manufactured products.
- The operator on the ground: WEPCO, which runs the port where the free zone will sit.
Why New Alamein
The site is not incidental. New Alamein sits on Egypt's Mediterranean coast west of Alexandria, on the stretch of shoreline the government has spent several years developing, and the free zone was mapped along the Alexandria-Matrouh coastal road in Matrouh, Ahram Online reported when the cabinet approved it in August.
The stated ambition, in the government's own framing, is to turn El-Hamra into a regional hub for crude storage and transport and to reinforce Egypt's position as a Mediterranean energy trading centre. That is a claim about intent, not about capacity. No storage volume has been published, and no throughput target has been given.
This project marks a vital addition to Egypt's energy ecosystem. — Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister of Egypt, quoted by Ahram Online
The timeline is the open question
Madbouly described the project as a strategic priority supported by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, according to Egypt Oil & Gas, which also reported that he called for faster progress in establishing the free zone and moving the project into its operational phase. Zawya reported him placing the incorporation within the longstanding strategic relations between Egypt and the UAE, and pressing the two sides to accelerate their joint work. Al Dhanhani said Fujairah was committed to accelerating the project in line with directives from Sheikh Hamad bin Mohammed Al Sharqi, the emirate's ruler, who was not reported as attending.
Badawi told the meeting that ensuring the success of this major project is a top priority, Egypt Independent reported, and both he and Madbouly referred to joint technical teams working through regulatory frameworks and operational milestones. According to Zawya, Badawi said the teams were still working to establish a specific timetable — which is a plain statement that one does not yet exist publicly.
That leaves a defined company, a defined plot and a defined set of licence conditions, and very little else that can be verified. There is no published construction start date, no announced completion date for the storage facilities, no capacity figure in cubic metres, no investment value and no ownership breakdown. Incorporation is a legal step, and on the evidence available it is the step that has been completed. Whether New Alamein becomes a working trading hub depends on tanks that have not yet been reported as built.
