Cairo, Egypt | – Saudi Arabia sent Egypt $3 billion worth of refined oil products from April up to the first week of this month, an official from Egypt’s state oil company said yesterday.
The EGPC official said the total value of oil aid to Egypt from Saudi Arabia since July 2013 through September of this year amounted to $5 billion.
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE pledged aid packages worth $12 billion to Egypt immediately following the overthrow of President Mohamed Mursi, providing a badly-needed economic lifeline.
The petroleum aid has not, however, managed to ease Egypt’s frequent power cuts.
In an effort to combat the energy crisis and encourage new investment to boost local oil and gas output, Egypt has started repaying some of its debt to foreign energy companies, which had reached more than $6 billion.
The petroleum ministry has signed oil and gas exploration deals worth $187 million with several Western companies and a Tunisian firm.
