Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Egypt signed a memorandum of understanding on Sunday to receive crude oil and natural gas from Iraq, Egypt's minister of petroleum Tarek El Molla said.

A statement from the petroleum ministry said the agreement was part of a deal between Iraq, Egypt and Jordan under which Baghdad will supply the other two countries with surpluses of crude oil and natural gas.

Egypt, once a net energy exporter, became a net importer in recent years amidst falling production and rising consumption. Its petroleum ministry says however that a slew of recent deals should raise production levels and allow the country to stop importing by 2020.

Egypt and Jordan are linked by the Arab Gas Pipeline built originally for export flows from Egypt. Since the country's 2011 uprising, numerous attacks on the pipeline have disrupted operations.

The latest agreement will also study how best to export Iraqi crude oil to Egypt and Jordan through a pipeline connecting the Iraqi city of Haditha to the Jordanian port of Aqaba.

*Reuters