Egypt opens tender to import fuel in July-Sept 2014 -official

Egypt has launched a tender to import hundreds of thousands of tonnes of petroleum products in the third quarter of 2014, an energy official said on Saturday, as the country tries to stave off a summer energy crisis.

Egypt's government wants to avoid major power blackouts during the months of increased consumption in the summer, when outages are worsened by a dilapidated grid and a wasteful subsidies system.

The tender comes in addition to supplies from Saudi Arabia, which will deliver energy products to Egypt in July and August as part of an aid package announced after the Egyptian army overthrew Egypt's first freely elected president, the Islamist Mohamed Mursi.

An official from the Egyptian General Petroleum Corp (EGPC) told Reuters that Egypt launched a tender on Thursday to import 90,000 tonnes of diesel each in July and August, and 120,000 tonnes of gasoline and 500,000 tonnes of diesel in September.