General Petroleum Authority CEO Tariq al-Mulla has said that 50 percent of the petroleum products that the authority needs to import come in the form of gifts from Arab countries as part of the aid they provide to help the Egyptian economy.
Mulla added that since August, Saudi Arabia has been shipping crude oil, diesel fuel, petrol and mazut worth some US$1.7 billion. In addition, he added that Kuwait has been supplying US$1 billion worth of the same products and that the United Arab Emirates has been also supplying the same products worth US$300 million as of July.
“The Emirates has not yet announced the total aid package it is going to send,” he said, adding that it has expressed a willingness to engage in joint oil projects, particularly refineries, to give an added boost to the Egyptian economy.
“Despite that, we still import crude oil from the international markets in order to meet our domestic needs,” he said.
“Brent crude oil prices remaining above the barrier of US$111 per barrel indirectly affects our subsidies,” he said, explaining that subsidies in the 2012-2013 budget reached LE130 billion with LE20 billion more than what was accrued.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
