Jordan Times
Tuesday, September 5, 2006
Iraq to provide oil to Jordan within 10 days
AMMAN (AFP) — Iraq will begin providing Jordan
with 10,000 barrels of crude oil within 10 days at preferential rates following
an agreement between the two neighbours last month, an official said on Monday.
The oil will be transported by trucks to Jordan, a senior official at the
Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said.
The oil will be treated at Jordanian refineries, the official added.
Iraq struck a deal in mid-August with Jordan to provide its oil-parched
neighbour with 10-30 per cent of its daily oil needs of around 100,000 barrels.
Part of the deal will eventually involve laying a new pipeline across the desert
between the two neighbours.
The move is aimed at easing pressure on the Jordanian government, which
increased the price of petrol, gas and home heating oil in April by between 12
and 43 per cent in a bid to reduce the budget deficit.
The April price hike was the third in less than a year.
Jordan depended on Iraq for all its oil needs before the start of the US-led war
on its eastern neighbour in March 2003, importing 5.5 million tonnes annually by
road, half of it free and the rest at a preferential price.
As supplies were cut off with the outbreak of war, the country turned to the
oil-producing giants in the Gulf but the cooperation did not last long,
prompting Amman to turn again towards Iraq for its oil needs.
In October 2003, Jordan struck a one-off deal with Iraq to buy 2.6 million
barrels of oil at a cost of more than $70 million, with supplies shipped by sea
from Iraq’s Mina Al Bakr to the Red Sea Port of Aqaba.