Gov’t mulling renewal of USD 23 bn Aramco agreement: The government is studying whether to renew its five-year agreement to purchase 700k tons of petroleum products per month from Saudi Aramco, a top official at the EGPC told Al Mal. The renewal will likely see the quantities and payment terms stay unchanged, but change the tenor and price. Negotiations could take over a year to wrap up, the official added. The agreement is due to expire in 2021.

Background: The USD 23 bn agreement, signed in April 2016, involved the monthly purchase of 400k tonnes of gas oil, 200k tonnes of benzene, and 100k tonnes of fuel oil (mazut) — worth some USD 300 mn. Egypt has 15 years in which to pay for the cargoes at 2% interest; the financing package comes with a three-year grace period. Aramco has also been supplying Egyptian refineries with 500k barrels of crude since January 2018 in a parallel agreement which the government renews every six months. The state also has import agreements with Kuwait Petroleum Corporation for 1.5 k tonnes of fuel a year and another contract with the Iraqi and Kuwaiti governments for 14 mn barrels of crude a month.