Iraq sends first crude oil shipment to Egypt

Iraq has started sending the first crude oil shipments to Egypt under a bilateral agreement between the two countries, the oil ministry in Baghdad announced yesterday.

According to ministry spokesman Assam Jihad, the loading of two million barrels of crude into an Egyptian tanker began on Wednesday. Iraq is set to export 12 million barrels of oil to Egypt under a one-year agreement that was signed last month between Baghdad and Cairo, he explained.

Moreover, the state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation recently renewed its agreement with the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. Under the deal, petroleum products and crude oil will be supplied to Egypt for an additional three years.

Read: Saudi Aramco resumes oil shipments to Egypt

Egypt has been experiencing a dramatic shortage in oil supply since November last year, when the Saudi Aramco oil company halted shipments to Cairo that had been part of a multi-billion dollar aid deal. However, in March, Aramco announced the resumption of the oil shipments to Egypt in an attempt to restore close links between the two countries, after a six-month suspension of what are reportedly strained relations.