(Reuters) -
Libya will soon start shipping oil to neighboring
Egypt on soft credit terms, two senior Libyan officials said, as Cairo struggles to pay for energy imports and avoid fuel shortages.
The officials told Reuters that
Tripoli would supply Cairo with $1.2 billion worth of crude at world
prices but on interest free credit for a year, with the first cargo
expected to arrive next month.
Egypt
has slid into economic crisis since president Hosni Mubarak was
overthrown two years ago. Most international companies have reduced oil
product supplies to the country fearing non-payments, as the government
tries to curb soaring energy subsidy costs which swallow up a fifth of
its budget.
Libya
plans to ship one to two cargoes a month for refining in Egypt under a
deal that involves 12 million barrels of crude over 12 months, the oil
industry officials said.
With
foreign currency reserves running low, Egypt has not bought any crude on
the open market since January. In rough terms the Libyan deal would be
worth slightly more than half its 2012 imports, which the central bank
put at $2 billion.
"Their situation
is very bad, and if necessary they can take up to a year to pay (for
each delivery)," said one of the Libyan officials.
Libyan
authorities themselves face a daily struggle to keep services running
and take control of a country awash with weapons looted from the arsenal
of Muammar Gaddafi, who was toppled in 2011.
But
the official said Libya could not shy away from helping an important
trading partner. "If you are a good neighbor and something is wrong with
your neighbor, you will not feel comfortable with yourself. It's human
nature," he said.
Cairo has so far
failed to agree a $4.8 billion loan deal with the International Monetary
Fund and has sought help from energy producing countries in the region
and beyond.
Tripoli has already
deposited $2 billion at the Egyptian central bank and Qatar has
announced $8 billion in loans, grants and other deposits since Islamist
President Mohamed Mursi was elected last June.
WORLD PRICES
Libya's
National Oil Corporation (NOC) declined immediate comments on the
details of the deal, although one of the oil industry officials said it
would supply Sirteca, the cheapest of all the country's grades.
"Shipments will be sold at world prices," said the second Libyan
official.
An official at the
Egyptian oil ministry confirmed some of the deal's terms. "(It will be)
one million barrels a month and deferred payment for 12 months without
interest starting from the first half of May, God willing," the official
told Reuters.
However, the
official maintained that the two sides were still discussing the kind of
crude oil to be supplied and how long the shipments would last. The
Libyan officials said that if the first cargo was sent next month as
planned, they would last until April 2014.
The Libyan deal should ease the problems of Egypt, which owes at least $5 billion to oil companies, half of it overdue.
Cairo
aims to raise prices of subsidized energy gradually, bringing them
close to world levels in four years, to reduce the burden on its huge
budget deficit. In the short term, it wants to avoid arousing more
social unrest by ensuring energy supplies during the approaching summer
when energy consumption peaks.
Libya
has already shown willingness to step back into its old role as North
Africa's version of a Gulf petro-state by using cash to open doors.
Libya's
new rulers authorized a payment of almost $200 million to Mauritania
after it extradited Gaddafi's former spy chief Abdullah al-Senussi last
year, although they later denied there was a quid pro quo.
Diplomats
and analysts have also suggested Libya's growing support may help
persuade Egypt to hand over Gaddafi's cousin Ahmed Gaddaf Alddam, who
was arrested in Cairo in March.
Egypt
sent two other ex-Gaddafi officials to Libya last month but barred the
extradition of Gaddaf Alddam, who is claiming Egyptian citizenship.
Libya is appealing the Egyptian court ruling.
(Additional reporting by Asma Alsharif in Cairo; editing by David Stamp)
أكدت
عضو لجنة الشؤون الخارجية بالمؤتمر الوطني آمنة امطير السبت على تشكيل
لجان ليبية تونسية لتأمين الحدود وعودة اللاجئين الليبيين الموجودين في
تونس وتطوير العلاقات الاقتصادية بين البلدين. وقالت امطير لأجواء لبلاد "طالبنا الدولة التونسية بالتعاون في تأمين الحدود ووقف تهريب السلاح والنفط والمواد التموينية".
