The Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, stated that Egypt aims to reach an agreement to import crude oil directly from Iraq. He added that he hoped to finalize this deal by the first quarter of 2017, reported Ecofin Agency.

El Molla further confirmed on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) that Egypt seeks importing between 1mb and 2mb from Iraq on a monthly basis, reported Reuters. This comes after Saudi Aramco halted shipments of its oil products to Egypt.

The Minister said: “We are seeking to directly import crude oil from Iraq. We already use Iraqi oil but we get it from international markets but we hope to have a direct government to government agreement.”

In related news, El Molla met with Iraqi Oil Minister, Jabar Al-Luaibi, and they had bilateral talks about the capabilities of Egyptian firms like Egypt Gas, EPROM, OGS, Sino Tharwa Drilling, Egyptian Drilling Company, EMC, Enppi and Petrojet. Al-Luaibi confirmed Egypt has chances to invest is Iraqi oil sector as Iraq is working to increase oil production to reach 5mb/d. Furthermore, Iraq will support Egyptian petroleum companies to work in Iraqi oil and gas as he is welcoming the establishment of joint ventures between Egyptian firms and the Iraqi government.