Cairo to finalise oil import deal with Iraq in February: official

Head of Egypt’s state-run oil company EGPC Tarek El-Hadidi said an Egyptian delegation would visit Iraq this month to finalise a crude oil import deal, state news agency MENA reported on Thursday.

The deal would see Egypt import Iraqi oil under a one-year agreement, which could be renewed, according to El-Hadidi.

In December, Egypt’s Petroleum Minister Tarek El-Molla announced the country was seeking an agreement with Iraq to import crude oil from the state directly.

El-Molla said then that he hoped to finalise a deal in the first quarter of 2017. 

The bilateral deal would help Egypt to secure its petroleum needs after the country was informed in November by Saudi national oil company Aramco that oil shipments expected under a prior multi-billion dollar aid deal had been halted indefinitely.

In April 2016, Riyadh had agreed to finance Cairo’s petroleum needs for five years with a $22 billion soft loan and facilitated payments.

In November, Kuwaiti newspaper Alrai reported that the country’s cabinet had approved a nine-month extension of its oil exports to Egypt, allowing up to 2 million barrels of crude oil to be delivered to the country each month starting in January.

Source: Ahram Online