Iraq to export 1m barrels of oil per day through Jordan

Iraq yesterday announced the completion of the “technical preparations” to extend a pipeline to export one million barrels of oil per day through Jordan, official Petra has reported.

“The export capacity of the Basra-Aqaba pipeline, which runs through Jordan, is expected to reach one million barrels per day (bpd),” Iraqi oil minister, Thamir Al-Ghadhban, said in a statement.

Al-Ghadhban explained that Iraq had completed the planning arrangements of the pipeline’s construction work. “The arrangements included its [the pipeline’s] track, components, absorptive capacity, the mechanisms of linking it to the northern Kirkuk oil fields, funding sources, and implementation and operational means,” he said.

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The Iraqi official stressed that his country was only depending on the southern portal city of Basra for oil exports, noting that the ministry has prepared “a major plan for its rehabilitation and development with the aim to increase its export capacity levels.”

The government, Al-Ghadhban pointed out, plans to establish three linked crude oil exporting ports.

Baghdad and Amman recently concluded six bilateral agreements to develop their relations, most notably in the oil and energy sectors. The two governments said the agreements aimed at “revitalising” their economies and strengthening ties between Iraq and Jordan.

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