In Egypt, the Minister of Petroleum Tarek El Molla (photo) on Sunday announced that the country has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Iraq for the importation of Oil as well as natural gas.

According to a statement issued from the ministry, the contract was part of an agreement between Egypt, Iraq and Jordan. Under the agreement, Iraq is to supply the two other countries with excess crude and natural gas.

Egypt became a net importer, due to the fall in production and increasing consumption.

The petroleum ministry is, confident that a large number of recent deals could boost the levels of production and also provide the opportunity for the country to put a stop to imports by 2020.

The Arab pipeline initially constructed for export flows from Egypt is what connects the country with Jordan. Since the January 25 revolution, series of attacks on the pipeline have affected operations in Egypt.

This current agreement, however, will see how best crude oil can be exported to Egypt and Jordan from Iraq via a pipeline linking Haditha (a city In Iraq) to the port of Aqaba in Jordan, Reuters reports.