Egypt offers to transport Saudi crude oil to Mediterranean port

Egypt said it could facilitate the transit of Saudi oil through its territory to ease export bottlenecks, positioning the Suez Canal and its pipeline infrastructure as alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz.

Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi said Tuesday that Egypt is prepared to transport Saudi crude from the Red Sea port of Yanbu to the Mediterranean via the Suez-Mediterranean Pipeline, known as Sumed.

The proposal comes after Reuters reported that Saudi Aramco told some buyers of its Arab Light crude that cargoes must be loaded at Yanbu on the Red Sea coast – a move sources say is intended to bypass the Strait of Hormuz following recent attacks on shipping.

The line runs across Egypt from the Gulf of Suez to the Mediterranean and has a capacity of about 2.5 million barrels a day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.