Libya has withdrawn its offer to provide Egypt with fuel on an open account basis.

In April, Libya reportedly said it was willing to supply fuel for Egypt without requiring letter of credit (L/C) terms (DC World News, 26 April 2013).

U-turn

Libya was expected to have supplied Egypt with fuel at standard international fuel prices on credit terms of 90 days.

Tripoli is now insisting that Egypt pays for fuel imports on L/C terms, according to Egyptian media reports.

Fuel shortages

Reports also say that Egypt's ministry of petroleum is now facing difficulties trying to finance much-needed fuel imports for motor vehicles and power stations.

Over the past week, several areas of Egypt have experienced blackouts for the first time since President Morsi was removed from office by the Egyptian military.

Changing suppliers

The current fuel shortage is exacerbated by Iraq's refusal to fulfil a pledge it made in April to supply Egypt with four million barrels of oil per month unless Cairo makes cash payments.

Egypt's fuel shortage has been somewhat alleviated by fuel that has arrived from the UAE and Saudi Arabia, both of which have substantially upped their support for Egypt now that the Muslim Brotherhood is no longer in power.

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