Saudi Arabia has informed Egypt that shipments of oil products expected under a USD23bn aid deal have been halted indefinitely. On Monday, Egyptian Minister of Oil Tarek El Molla confirmed it had stopped shipments indefinitely. "They did not give us a reason," an oil ministry official told reporters. "They only informed the authority about halting shipments of petroleum products until further notice," he said. The deal was signed during a visit by Saudi King Salman in April, under which Saudi Arabia agreed to provide Egypt with 700,000 tonnes of refined oil products per month for five years but the cargoes stopped arriving in early October. Egypt had since launched tenders to cover its demand for petroleum products in November. (Reuters)