A press release to Egypt Oil&Gas stated that Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, held a meeting with First Undersecretaries of the Ministry of Petroleum to review the future plans and time frames set for the increase of local crude oil and natural gas production in addition to the improvement of the refineries efficiency. The meeting also included following up on the operational status of the projects that are in-progress.

The minister’s meeting further discussed the status of the gas market regulating law. The Energy and Environmental Committee of the Parliament is to finalize negotiating the law’s clauses for submission to the Parliament’s representatives.

Moreover, El Molla stated that Egypt had agreed with Saudi partners to continue supplying Aramco petroleum cargos according to the commercial contract that was signed by the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and Aramco. The Egyptian and Saudi sides were in talks over to resume the shipments as the contract was still valid. In addition, the two sides are currently working on setting the timetable to receive the cargos.

According to Aramco’s statement, the shipments were halted due to commercial circumstances which include the unstable oil prices and Saudi Arabia’s decrease of its production and its refineries maintenance work.