EgyptDailyNews - A government official said that the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum imported fuel shipments worth about $3.3 billion during the first quarter of the current year 2024, an increase of about 6% compared to the corresponding quarter of last year, which witnessed imports worth $3.1 billion.
The official added to that the fuel import bill for last March amounted to approximately $1.25 billion, an increase of about $150 million over the same month last year. He continued that petroleum products accounted for about two billion dollars of the total import bill at a rate ranging between 60 and 70% during the past three months, and the rest of the value of imports belongs to shipments of coal and crude oil that are directed to Egyptian refineries.
According to data from the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum, Egypt’s petroleum production last year amounted to about 74 million tons, including 28 million tons of crude oil and condensates, and about 45 million tons of natural gas.
The official said that what is currently happening in the waters of the Red Sea has raised the actual cost burden on the state regarding shipments imported from abroad by 10% for the past three months, as Egypt has contracts to import crude oil and fuel from some Asian markets.
Egypt has an annual contract with Iraq to import quantities of crude oil - and it also imports shipments from Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, and Kuwait.
He explained that the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum is deferring some payment facilities for later periods, as the majority of monthly petroleum products are imported from Arab markets that enjoy surplus production of oil and fuel.
A government official said, in a previous statement, that Egypt, represented by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, imported fuel shipments worth approximately $12.6 billion in 2023.
He added to that the value of the country's fuel imports during 2023 declined by about 11%, compared to 2022, in which the import bill amounted to about 14.3 billion dollars.
Last March 22, the Petroleum Products Pricing Committee in Egypt decided to increase the price of gasoline in line with international prices. According to the committee’s decision, it was decided to raise gasoline prices by one pound, so that the price of a liter of 80 gasoline after the increase would be 11 pounds, and the price of a liter of 92 gasoline after the increase would be 12.5 pounds. The price of a liter of 95 gasoline after the increase is 13.5 pounds.
The Petroleum Products Pricing Committee set an increase in the price of diesel by 1.75 pounds per liter, bringing the price of a liter of diesel to 10 pounds, in addition to increasing the price of a 12.5-kg butane gas cylinder from the warehouse floor to the consumer from 75 pounds to 100 pounds.
Egypt has been implementing a mechanism for automatic pricing for some petroleum products since July 2016 after adopting a program it implemented over several years to liberalize fuel prices. The Automatic Pricing Committee for Petroleum Products sets prices every 3 months.
