Cairo – Mubasher: Iraq's State Oil Marketing Company (SOMO) had finalised signing an agreement to provide Egypt with crude oil and sent it to the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources for approval, Iraq's ambassador in Cairo said.

Habib Mohamed Hadi told state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram that the first shipment to Egypt of 1 million barrels per month is expected to arrive in the last 10 days of March.

On 2 February, Tarek El Hadidi, CEO of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), said that Egypt is negotiating to import crude oil from Iraq.

Egypt's needs of oil are estimated at 6.5 million tonnes, partially fulfilled by domestic production, while the rest is being imported.

Earlier, the EGPC announced that it is seeking to purchase around 1.012 million tonnes of gasoil for delivery in February and March 2017.