Al-Sadr bloc warns against moving forward with Basra-Aqaba oil pipeline project

Muqtada al-Sadr’s Sairoon Bloc warned on Tuesday of moving forward with an economic project which would extend an oil pipeline from Iraq to Jordan without reviewing it by the parliament.

MP Sadiq al-Sulaiti of Sairoon called to present the Basra- Aqaba pipeline agreement to the concerned parliamentary committees for review, saying that “Jordan wants to harvest the fruits of this agreement without paying anything”.

Al-Sulaiti added that the Basra- Aqaba pipeline project is estimated to cost $18 billion; most of it will be paid by the Iraqi side.

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He added that the agreement indicates that “the section passing through Jordan will be a property of Jordan, yet will be paid by Iraq”.

“The cost of transporting a barrel is expected to be $4, which is four times higher than the cost of extracting one barrel” al- Sulaiti said.

The Iraqi lawmaker warned the oil ministry not to proceed with agreements that may cause wasting public money, and demanded to submit the project to the Parliament and the oil and energy parliamentary committee to study its feasibility.