Kuwait Commits to Sell Egypt 2 Million Oil Barrels Per Month

Filling the gap caused by Saudi Arabia’s suspension of oil shipment to Egypt, Kuwait has just approved an extension of its oil exports to the nation, Ahram Online reported, citing Kuwaiti newspaper Alrai.

The deal, which was approved by the Kuwaiti cabinet on Monday, will kick off in January, with two million oil barrels being sold at international prices with no discounts, but with a grace period of nine months.

According to Al Ahram, Egypt had agreed with Kuwait in 2014 to import two million barrels of crude oil and 1.2 million tonnes of petroleum products per month through a long-term contract. Now, nearly two months after Saudi Arabia decided to halt fuel shipments to Egypt due to differences over the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, the Kuwaiti deal extension became as necessary as ever, as Egypt’s economy struggles with stagnation and a currency devaluation that is starting to strain the economy with food and medicine shortages.

The Saudi national oil company, Aramco, had agreed to export 700,000 tonnes of refined oil products per month to Egypt for five years, but Egypt stopped receiving shipments in October.

Main image: Ben Alexander, licensed under Creative Commons.