Egypt Finds Other Sources After Halt In Saudi Fuel Shipments

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt says it has secured fuel imports to make up for a shortfall caused by Saudi Arabia's abrupt decision to halt previously agreed shipments, avoiding a potentially politically costly fuel shortage and propelling the issue of oil onto the center stage of an escalating Saudi-Egypt spat. Saudi Arabia agreed in April to provide Egypt with 700,000 tons of fuel monthly for five years on easy repayment terms, but Egyptian officials said this week that Saudi Arabia's Aramco, the world's largest oil company, informed Cairo it would not ship any fuel this month. Oil Ministry spokesman Hamdi Abdel-Aziz was quoted by Egyptian newspapers Wednesday as saying that several fuel shipments from other suppliers have arrived in Egypt following "urgent" tenders. There has been no official word from Saudi Arabia on the abrupt halt of shipments, a decision that appears linked to a public spat between the two allies over Syria. Egypt's vote in favor of separate Russian and French draft resolutions on Syria at the U.N.