Iraq ready to double oil shipments to Jordan — official

AMMAN — Iraq is ready to double its exports of crude oil to Jordan at preferential prices, according to Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Al Luaibi.

“If the Jordanian authorities ask for increasing the shipments of crude oil, we are willing to double them at preferential prices,” the minister told The Jordan Times last week.

The official said supplies of crude oil from Iraq to the Kingdom stopped last month as the contract with the transportation company expired.

Under the previous contract, Iraq exported 10,000 barrels of oil to Jordan per day at $18 less than the price on the world market per barrel. Baghdad has recently offered the vital commodity at $20 lower than the market price per barrel.

“We are waiting for Jordan to name a company to start transporting the new shipments,” said Luaibi.

“The shipments over the past few months were disrupted due to the security conditions in Al Anbar governorate, which is adjacent to the border with Jordan, but the route is now safe and secured and we are ready to export oil anytime,” said the official.

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Mohammad Hamed said that the decision to select a new transporter falls to the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company.

Hamed told The Jordan Times that there is a dire need for expanding the refinery to be able to process larger quantities of Iraqi crude oil, especially since the Kingdom will start receiving about 150,000 barrels of oil from a planned pipeline that will transfer oil from Iraq’s Basra to Aqaba.

Jordan’s daily consumption of oil at present stands at about 100,000 barrels, according to figures by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.