Tarek el-Molla, head of state-run Egyptian General Petroleum Corp (EGPC) said Saudi fuel donations to Egypt from last month through August will be worth more than $3 billion, as part of a financial lifeline from the Gulf helping to ease the country's energy crisis, according to Reuters.
Egypt had received an oil shipment from Saudi Arabia "at a value of between $650 and $700 million" in April and would keep getting the same amount monthly through August, the top official added.
"Saudi petroleum aid to Egypt will be more than $3 billion from April until the end of August," he told Reuters by phone.
El-Molla did not specify whether this aid came on top of the $2 billion worth of petrol product donations announced by Saudi Arabia last year after the Egyptian military deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.
The government said last week that gifted fuel from Gulf nations including Saudi Arabia that supported Mursi's ouster last July totalled $6 billion.
The supply is a welcome relief for Cairo as it struggles to avoid major blackouts this summer. The cuts are caused by gas shortages and a dilapidated power grid but are more broadly driven by a wasteful subsidies system that drains foreign exchange reserves.