Iraq to start implementing pipeline to transfer oil to Egypt

CAIRO – 3 April 2017: Egypt and Iraq have agreed to begin implementing a pipeline project which will transfer Iraqi crude oil through Jordan to Egyptian refineries, Petroleum Minister Tarek El-Molla said in a Monday Statement.

The agreement activates a memorandum of understating signed between the three countries to allow Iraqi crude exports into Egypt through Jordanian territory.

In February, Cairo signed an agreement with Baghdad to supply Egypt with one million barrels of crude oil each month. The agreement was an attempt to secure Egypt’s needs of hydrocarbons after Saudi Arabia’s Armco halted a deal to provide 700,000 tons of refined oil products per month for five years to Egypt in October. The state-owned company resumed oil shipments to Egypt in March.

Egypt turned from a net energy exporter to a net importer due to rising consumption, and the country is looking forward to self-sufficient by 2021 thanks to new oil and gas discoveries in various areas, especially the “super giant” Zohr natural gas field in Egypt’s part of the Mediterranean Sea.