Egypt to invest $9 bln refineries' upgrade over four years- minister

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt plans to upgrade six oil refineries at a cost of about $9 billion over four years to increase domestic production to 41 million tonnes a year, the petroleum minister said.

"We are trying to secure crude oil supplies for Egyptian refineries to increase local production of refined products," the minister, Tarek El Molla, said during a conference in Cairo late on Sunday night, without giving further details.

Egypt currently has eight refineries with a capacity of 38 million tonnes, of which only 25 million tonnes are utilised.

(Reporting by Ahmed Ismail, writing by Sami Aboudi, editing by Louise Heavens)