Egypt's petroleum exports increased 5 percent during the first nine months of 2018, recording $1.85 billion, compared to $1.76 billion in the same period of 2017. According to a recent bulletin published by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), Egypt's crude oil exports reached $1.55 billion during the period of 2018, compared to $1.52 billion during the same period of 2017. The bulletin revealed that exports of petroleum products reached $195 million during January to September 2018, compared to $240 million in the same period of 2017. As per petroleum imports, the bulletin read that Egypt's petroleum imports recorded $4.98 billion in the period of 2018, compared to $3.83 billion in the same period of 2017. It clarified that the reason behind the rise of petroleum imports is the increase of importing crude oil. The bulletin also noted that despite the decline in the imports of petroleum products, the increase in importing crude oil covered the decrease in importing other petroleum products, which resulted in a hike in the overall value of Egypt's petroleum imports. Egypt's imports of crude oil hit $2.86 billion during January-September 2018 period, compared to $1.18 billion during the same period of 2017, with an increase of $1.68 billion. The volume of petroleum products' imports recorded $2.12 billion in 2018's period, compared to $2.65 billion, with a decrease of $527 million, according to CAPMAS. In the first seven months of 2018, Egypt's petroleum exports dipped 5.5 percent, recording $1.35 billion, compared to $1.39 billion in the same period of 2017, losing about $40 million. On the other hand, Egypt's oil imports increased during the period from January to July 2018 to $3.827 billion, $2.157 billion of which went to crude oil and $1.671 billion was allocated for other petroleum products, compared to $3.054 billion in the same period of 2017.
