Petroleum Minister Tarek el Mulla said new projects were implemented in the fields of refining and manufacturing petroleum products at over eight billion dollars investments.

The projects were implemented in Cairo, Alexandria, Assiut and Suez with an aim to boost petroleum products output and meet local market needs, the minister said on Saturday while inspecting the experimental operation of a new fractional distillation column of the lab of the Middle East Oil Refinery (MIDOR) in Alexandria.

The petroleum sector started implementing an all-out program for developing and upgrading oil refinery labs and employing modern safety systems, he said.

The minister noted that Enppi and Petrojet companies also carried out a fractional distillation column project at 20 million dollar investments.

MIDOR Chairman Mohamed Abdel Aziz said the second stage of expansions aims at upping MIDOR refinery lab productivity by 60 percent.

The second stage is expected to cost about 1.85 billion dollars, he added.