CAIRO, April 15 (UPI) -- There are no plans to build an oil pipeline from Iraq to Egypt, a statement from the Iraqi Embassy in Cairo said.
The Egyptian government in March said it was committed to a project that would extend an oil pipeline from Iraq through Jordan at the cost of $17 billion. Egyptian refineries would process the Iraqi crude.
The Iraqi Embassy in Cairo confirmed to the independent Daily News Egypt that a deal was signed between Cairo and the Iraq State Company for Oil Projects.
"There is currently an agreement between us," an embassy spokesman said. "But we haven't yet received any official communications from Baghdad regarding their plans."
Iraqi officials arrived in Cairo last weekend to discuss terms of oil deliveries from Iraq. March plans included the possibility that Iraq would send about 4 million barrels of crude oil from southern oil fields to Egypt every year.
Egypt, since its 2011 revolution, has suffered energy shortages. In November, the government said it was inviting investors to help develop its refinery sector.
Iraq lacks an energy law covering the entire country's oil sector. Disputes over jurisdiction between the semiautonomous Kurdish government and the central government have affected oil development in Iraq.
