rift with Saudi Arabia sees Egypt switch to Iraq for oil supplies

The Iraqi ambassador to Cairo Habeeb Mohamed Al-Sadr says that Iraq has signed an agreement to supply Egypt with one million barrels each month, according to the state-owned Al-Ahram.

Al-Sadr said the Iraqi Oil Marketing company SOMO sent the contract for the oil exports to the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum for final approval.

The Iraqi Ambassador added that the first batch of oil is expected to be delivered within the last 10 days of March 2017.

Al-Sadr told Al-Ahram that there will be strategic joint energy projects that are expected to link Iraq, Egypt, and Jordan together.

Egypt had to shift to Iraq for oil supply after Saudi’s oil company of Aramco decided to halt a five-year agreement to import 700,000 tons of petroleum products each month to Egypt in October. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi signed the oil agreement with Saudi King Salman in April during the latter’s visit. During the same visit, they signed the controversial Tiran and Sanafir Red Islands agreement.

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