Saudi Aramco to resume oil shipments to Egypt: Minister

Egypt's Petroleum Minister Tarek El-Molla said Wednesday that Egypt agreed with Saudi Arabia's Aramco company to resume providing Egypt with oil products as per their agreement after a halt last October, an emailed ministry statement read.

A timeline is currently being drafted between the country and Aramco outlining the delivery of shipments, El-Molla added in his statement.

Reuters quoted a source at the ministry, who requested anonymity, as saying that shipments would resume "within a very short time period."

El-Molla added that the two parties have been communicating to resume shipments, especially given that they had a valid contract.

After the decision to halt shipments in October, the Egyptian ministry said it had contracted “other foreign suppliers” to provide the country with its petroleum needs, without giving further details.

Egypt also reiterated that the oil shipment halt had "no political dimension."

An anonymous official at Aramco told Saudi media outlet Al-Manatiq in October that the halt was attributed to a re-evaluation of Saudi oil production, which might be reduced by half a million barrels per day after an OPEC meeting.

It was agreed at the October that members would reduce output by 1.2 million barrels a day in 2017. Saudi Arabia has reported that it has lowered its output in January accordingly.

In April 2016, the oil-rich kingdom agreed with Egypt on a $22-billion soft loan with facilitated payments to finance the latter’s petroleum needs for five years

Source: Ahram online