Egypt, Iraq agree on crude oil deals

Egypt will import Iraqi crude oil before refining it and exporting fuel back to its source, following a comprehensive fuel processing deal signed by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Egyptian counterpart Hisham Kandil on Monday. The Egyptian Prime Minister is visiting Baghdad as part of a high-level delegation. Discussions between the two leaders also focused on a prospective pipeline linking the two countries. “We talked about the oil pipeline which will run from Iraq through Jordan and on to Aqaba before reaching Egyptian refineries,” al-Maliki said in a press conference. Both leaders discussed the many challenges facing the region, including the spread of terrorist insurgencies, repression and violence in countries across the Middle East and North Africa. But economics was the central issue, with both Maliki and Kandil expressing hopes for greater links and cooperation between their two countries in the future. "We have reached a number of agreements in fields, including energy, trade, development, electricity, drinking water, sanitation, ports and construction," Kandil said afterwards. “The sky is the limit,” the Egyptian Prime Minister added.