Lifting sanctions on Iran might revitalize the work of Egypt's SUMED

Egypt anticipates a ramp-up in oil volumes through the SUMED pipeline once Iran re-enters the world market - a move that is welcomed by Cairo, the country's petroleum minister Tarek El Molla told Reuters on Friday.

SUMED, which owns and operates Egypt's Mediterranean port of Sidi Kerir, is half owned by state-run oil company Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. A group of four other Gulf Arab countries - Iran's arch rival Saudi Arabia, as well as Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar - owns the other half.

Since a July nuclear deal with world powers, Iran has repeatedly announced plans to boost oil production and exports once sanctions are lifted to reclaim its position as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' second-largest producer.

"They used to work with us through SUMED. They used to store their crude there at Ain Sukhna (terminal) and Sidi Kerir," El Molla said on the sidelines of an Egypt investor forum in London.

"It will boost back again the activity of SUMED ... Of course I have no problem. But currently we are not talking with them."

The 200-mile (320-km) SUMED pipeline runs from the Red Sea to the port west of Alexandria. Western sanctions imposed on Iran's oil sector have brought shipments through Ain Sukhna and Sidi Kerir to a virtual halt since 2012, compounded by a freeze on insurance provision.