Garry White, and Emma Rowley
telegraph.co.uk
August 19, 2013
After last week’s bloody crackdown by the Egyptian army, fears of a
disruption of oil supplies to the West have boosted the oil price. Brent
crude prices were propelled to a four-month high of $111.23 on
Thursday. If the turmoil gets worse – or unrest spreads to other
countries – the risk premium currently factored into the price of crude
is likely to increase further.
Egypt is not a major energy exporter, producing a nominal amount of
the world’s oil and gas. The North African country appears at number 54
on the list of the world’s largest oil exporters, producing about 0.9pc
of the world’s oil and 1.8pc of global natural gas supply.
However, Egypt plays a vital role in international energy markets
through the operation of the Suez Canal and the Suez-Mediterranean
(Sumed) pipeline. These are vital pieces of infrastructure in the global
oil market.
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