The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) launched a tender to receive oil and gas imports during the first half of November, reported Al Borsa.  This comes as a precautionary move from EGPC to cover Aramco’s November shipments in case of further delays. Accordinlgy, if Aramco resumes on-time cargos, EGPC will delay  contracting backdated shipments until further notice.

the Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, stated that Egypt’s the 5-year deal with the Saudi oil company Aramco is still in effect, insisting that the company’s decision to suspend oil supplies to Egypt during October is not politically motivated, informed Al Ahram. His comments came during a meeting with parliament’s Energy and Environment Committee.

In order for Egypt to cover the ever growing domestic demand, the country needs to import about $450m worth of petroleum products and $270m of liquefied natural gas (LNG) on a monthly bases. Furthermore, Cairo was expecting to receive certain supplies under the terms of the agreement with Aramco. Accordingly, the company should have shipped 400,000 tons of diesel, 200,000 tons of benzene, and 100,000 tons of mazut to Egypt every month.