Kuwait renewed a contract to supply Egypt with crude oil for the next three years, according to a senior Kuwaiti government official, who said the shipments are not intended to make up for the loss of Saudi fuel shipments to the North African country.

Egypt will get 2 MMbbl of Kuwaiti crude per month starting Jan. 1, according to the official, who asked not to be identified because the contract wasn’t announced publicly. The contract is for three years and the supplies will be based on international prices, he said.

The contract is an extension of the current agreement between the two countries, the official said.

Saudi Arabian Oil Co., known as Saudi Aramco, has halted shipments of oil products to Egypt since October, forcing the Arab world’s most populous nation to buy fuels on world markets at higher cost. Egypt, which relies on imports to meet its energy needs, decided earlier this month to allow its currency to trade freely as a step toward stabilizing an economy weakened by a dollar shortage.

Source: www.worldoil.com