Page 6 - MEOG Week 38 2022

MEOG PIPELINES & TRANSPORT MEOG

Jordan resumes oil imports from Iraq

JORDAN JORDAN has resumed importing crude oil manager of Iraq’s state oil marketer Somo, told
from Iraq following the resolution of a logistical Iraq News Agency (INA): “The Oil Marketing
issue that saw its eastern neighbour pause the Company does not have differential prices, but
cross-border shipments. rather fixed prices according to the market …
The Hashemite kingdom’s Minister of Energy Jordan stipulated that, according to the Cabinet’s
and Mineral Resources Saleh Al-Kharabsheh decision, the transportation cost was calculated
was quoted in a September 19 statement released at $11 from Baiji to Jordan, and this is among the
by his ministry as saying that Iraq had resolved items of bilateral agreements between the two
the transportation issue, allowing trucks to countries, and the supreme interest is valued by
resume loading Kirkuk crude for delivery to Jor- the country and the government.”
dan’s Zarqa refinery near Amman. With security issues in Iraq leading to a five-
The MEMR said that Jordan had imported year hiatus from 2014 to 2019, shipments were
around 2.53mn barrels of Iraqi oil between Sep- severely affected again in 2020 by the pandemic,
tember 2021 and July 2022. and the resultant drop in oil price led to several
Under the terms of a bilateral deal origi- pauses in supplies and no crude at all sent to Jor-
nally signed in February 2019 and subsequently dan in August 2020.
renewed last year, Iraq agreed to cover around Cargoes resumed in September following a
7% of Jordan’s oil demand – 10,000 barrels per July agreement between Amman and Baghdad
day (bpd) – trucking crude from the Baiji refin- on the resumption, with Iraq completing all of
ery to Zarqa. After lengthy delays, the first batch the required logistical preparations. Al-Kharab-
of Iraqi crude was trucked from Baiji to Jordan sheh’s predecessor Hala Zawati said that crude
via Kirkuk in September 2019. flows had stopped after prices fell below $20 per
At the time, it was reported that Jordan would barrel.
purchase the oil at a $16 per barrel discount to The deal was extended in late January 2021
Brent in order to cover the transport and devia- after a meeting between Prime Ministers
tion in specifications, with Iraqi goods exported Mustafa al-Kadhimi and Bisher al-Khasawneh.
through Aqaba port receiving preferential rates Jordan reported that flows had averaged 9,899
in return. bpd from September 1, 2021 and January 30 this
However, last year, Alaa al-Yasiri, general year.™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 38 21•September•2022