Libya plans to refine some of its crude oil in Egyptian refineries to support its neighbour’s economy which is faltering due to political unrest, the Libyan oil minister said on Monday.
“We have plans to refine Libyan oil in Egyptian refineries in order to import it from Egypt to support the Egyptian economy,” Abdul-Bari Al-Aroussi told Reuters.
Libyan refineries provide about 30 percent while 70 percent of the north African country’s refined oil needs is imported.
Al-Aroussi said stability in Egypt was important for both nations.
Egypt’s economy has been in crisis since the 2011 overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, with Islamist President Mohamed Morsi’s cash-strapped government grappling with sliding currency reserves, falling tourism, a soaring budget deficit and a wave of often violent street protests.
It has cut back on some planned oil imports, traders said early this month, as it watches its foreign reserves fall and it seeks loan funding.
“Egypt asked us to provide them with Libyan crude oil. We agreed to their request at world prices,” Libya’s National Oil Company (NOC) chairman Nouri Berouin told Reuters on Monday.
Reuters
