Egypt to import crude oil directly from Iraq

Egypt is seeking to import crude oil directly from Iraq in the first quarter of 2017, the country’s Minister of Petroleum Tarek El-Molla said Thursday.

El-Molla told reporters, on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), that Egypt aims to import between one and two million barrels per month from Iraq.

“We are seeking to directly import crude oil from Iraq. We already use Iraqi oil but we get it from international markets but we hope to have a direct government-to-government agreement,” El-Molla said.

The minister visited Baghdad at the end of October, while a number of deputies from the Shia National Alliance called on the Iraqi government to export crude oil to Egypt on credit in response to what they said was “blackmailing” practiced by Saudi Arabia against Cairo.

Earlier in October, Saudi Arabia informed Egypt that shipments of oil products expected under a $23 billion aid deal had been halted indefinitely.

Saudi Arabia agreed, during a visit by Saudi King Salman in April, to provide Egypt with 700,000 tonnes of refined oil products per month for five years but the cargoes stopped arriving in early October.

Source: Middle East Monitor