Egypt has agreed to recommence importing Iran’s liquefied gas (LNG), according to an Iranian official, following the permit issued by Cairo for Tehran to transfer crude oil to European countries through its SuMed pipeline, reported MEHR News Agency.

According to Iran’s Petrochemical Employers Association’s Deputy Director, Parviz Sahafzadeh, Iran’s LNG exports to Egypt have already been launched. “Single shipments are currently being deployed to Egypt by an Iranian firm while more products will soon be exported to the Middle Eastern country,” said

He has also confirmed that some Egyptian firms are seeking to import Iranian petrochemical or polymeric products. Sahafzadeh added that “given the sanction removal and entry to post-sanction era, the grounds have been provided to expand trade volume between Iran and Egypt particularly in the field of petchem exports. A list of petrochemical items required by Egypt has been delivered to Iranian petrochemical companies.”

Previously, Egyptian Petroleum Minister, Tarek El Molla, said in November that his country was looking to Iran to help ramp up country’s oil production which could boost the Arab nation’s proceeds from transit of crude through SUMED, informed Press TV.

Enterprise added that while in April 2016 MEHR reported that Egypt had allowed Iranian tankers to resume oil shipments through the SuMed pipeline to export oil to countries in Europe and the Mediterranean Sea region, Arab Petroleum Pipelines Co. (APPC), which runs the pipeline, denied giving the Iranians any green light to use the SuMed pipeline.