Do oil shipments to Egypt mark new chapter for Egypt, Saudi relations?
Egypt has announced the resumption of Saudi oil shipments in what appears to be a move toward reducing the tension between both countries that has escalated over the past years, mainly over the Syrian crisis.
CAIRO — Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek el-Mulla announced that Egyptian ports welcomed two fuel shipments from Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s national oil company, on March 17-18, a day after the company announced resumption of supplying oil product shipments to Cairo.
Aramco had suddenly suspended these shipments in October 2016, after Saudi envoy to the United Nations Abdallah al-Mouallimi criticized Egypt’s vote in favor of a Russian resolution on Syria before the UN Security Council. It appeared that Egypt and Saudi Arabia were not on the same page regarding the Syrian crisis.
Analysts Al-Monitor spoke with believe the Saudi petroleum shipments to Egypt were resumed to reduce political tensions between the two countries. At the same time, the Egyptian government submitted a maritime border demarcation agreement to parliament on March 14 to transfer the ownership of the two Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir to the kingdom. Until now, the agreement is still being discussed in parliament awaiting to be ratified in case of approval of all members of parliament.
Abdul Menhem Said, the director of the Regional Center for Strategic Studies, considered the resumption of Saudi petroleum shipments to Egypt “a good sign for renewed Saudi-Egyptian understanding, after months of open disputes, especially on the Syrian issue. This delayed the transfer of ownership of the islands to the kingdom, angering Saudi Arabia and prompting it to suspend the shipments.”
