Saudi Aramco suspends supply of petroleum products to Egypt
The spokesman for the Ministry of Petroleum Hamdy Abdul-Aziz has stated that the minster of petroleum has received a phone call from Saudi Oil Company Aramco stating that the company would only stop supplying petroleum products to Egypt during October.
The spokesman for the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) pointed out that in order to avoid the potential for petroleum product shortage, especially gasoline and diesel shortages, and its economic implications; the EGPC has taken a number of measures, including launching tenders to import the petroleum products (diesel, gasoline and fuel oil). This in order to, bridges the future market shortfall of 700 thousand tons that should have been supplied by Aramco.
The EGPC spokesman noted that petroleum products supplied by Aramco to Egypt have been awarded to suppliers in order to bridge the shortfall as quickly as possible.
The EGPC spokesman confirmed that Aramco would only stop supplying petroleum products to Egypt during October and the deal concluded between the company and the ministry has not been canceled.
Saudi Arabia agreed to provide Egypt with 700,000 tons of refined petroleum products a month under a $23 billion deal over five years between Saudi Aramco and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation.
Under this deal, Egypt will buy 400,000 tons of gas oil, 200,000 tons of gasoline and 100,000 tons of fuel oil per month, all on a credit line with a 2 percent interest rate to be repaid over 15 years.
Egypt will launch a number of tenders to buy the fuel needed for the local consumption. The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) plans to allocate more than $500 million loan to be granted by the central Bank of Egypt in order to purchase needed petroleum products.
