Egypt and Iraq have not resumed pumping oil and gas to Jordan

Oil ministers in Iraq and Egypt have affirmed that their countries have not yet resumed exporting oil and natural gas to Jordan, the Jordanian Al-Ghad newspaper reported on Saturday.

Speaking to Al-Ghad, after signing an oil and natural gas agreement with Jordan, the ministers said that the three countries are working hard to resume pumping oil to Jordan as soon as possible.

The Iraqi oil minister, Abdul-Karim al-Lo’ebi, said that his country is ready to raise the price on the oil exported to Jordan to $20 instead of $18. He also reiterated that his country is ready to increase the amount of oil pumped to Jordan any time.

Importing Iraqi oil to Jordan has stopped because the oil transmission agreement with the contractor has been terminated and the country is waiting for new bidding to choose a new contractor.

Al-Lo’ebi said that transmitting oil from his country to Jordan is safe now because the oil is exported from a refinery located in a safe area.

According to the agreement between the two countries, Jordan imports between 10,000 and 15,000 barrels of crude oil every day. The price of each barrel is $18 less than the global price. Because of security measures taken by Jordan, the net of the cuts comes to $5 only.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian oil minister Sharif Ismail said that they stopped supplying natural gas to Jordan from 27 December last year after the latest explosion on the gas pipelines.

Ismail stressed the obligation of his country to supply Jordan with natural gas and said that stopping it is only a result of difficult circumstances related to securing transmission pipelines in the desert.

The minister said that Egypt is trying to resume pumping gas to Jordan as soon as possible.