Page 10 - DMEA Week 04 2023

DMEA SUPPLY & PROCESSING DMEA

Iraqi crude resumes flowing into Jordan

JORDAN TRUCKS filled with Iraqi crude resumed cross- September 2022 following a July agreement
ing the border into Jordan this week, following a between Amman and Baghdad on the resump-
month-long hiatus. The resumption follows the tion, with Iraq completing all of the required
latest three-month extension of a bilateral deal logistical preparations. Former Jordanian Min-
originally signed in February 2019, which has ister of Energy and Mineral Resources Hala
been renewed several times since. Zawati said that crude flows had stopped after
This deal provided for Iraq to supply 10,000 prices fell below $20 per barrel.
barrels per day (bpd) – covering around 7% of The renewal comes just a few days after
Jordan’s oil demand – trucking crude from the Amman and Baghdad said that they would soon
Baiji refinery to the Jordan Petroleum Refinery begin implementing the Basra-Aqaba crude oil
Co. (JoPetrol) at Zarqa. After lengthy delays, the pipeline, underpinning continually improving
first batch of Iraqi crude was trucked from Baiji bilateral relations.
to Jordan via Kirkuk in September 2019. Meetings were held during a four-day visit to
Following the latest renewal, around 110 Baghdad by Jordanian parliamentary speaker
trucks are expected to cross the border every day Ahmad Al-Safadi, with discussions covering the
until the end of March. long-awaited pipeline, grid interconnection and
When the 2019 agreement was announced, it broader economic collaboration.
was reported that Jordan would purchase the oil Al-Safadi’s Iraqi counterpart, Muhammad
at a $16 per barrel discount to Brent in order to Halbousi, told a press conference: “We discussed
cover the transport and deviation in specifica- bilateral relations and important economic sec-
tions with Iraqi goods exported through the port tors, as we discussed in detail the electrical grid
of Aqaba, receiving preferential rates in return. connection [wire] between Iraq and Jordan.”
However, in 2021 Alaa al-Yasiri, general Meanwhile, “increasing the outlets for selling
manager of Iraq’s state oil marketer Somo, told Iraqi oil is an important issue, as it will increase
Iraq News Agency (INA): “The Oil Marketing Iraq’s imports,” he added.
Company does not have differential prices, but Halbousi praised “Jordan’s positions in sup-
rather fixed prices according to the market … port of Iraq” and said: “We highly appreciate
Jordan stipulated that, according to the Cabinet’s Al-Safadi’s visit to Baghdad and the Jordanian
decision, the transportation cost was calculated support for the Iraqi people.”
at $11 from Baiji to Jordan, and this is among the The project will be divided into two parts: the
items of bilateral agreements between the two first phase includes installing a 56-inch (1,422-
countries, and the supreme interest is valued by mm), 680-km pipeline with a capacity of 2.25mn
the country and the government.” bpd from the Rumaila oilfield to Najaf, built in
With security issues in Iraq leading to a five- three phases.The second package covers the
year hiatus from 2014 to 2019, shipments were installation of a 42-inch (1,066-mm), 973-km
severely affected again in 2020 by the pandemic pipeline from Najaf to the Jordanian border and
and the resultant drop in oil price led to several on to Aqaba with a capacity of 1mn bpd. The lat-
pauses in supplies and no crude at all being sent ter will include a spur carrying 150,000 bpd to
to Jordan in August 2020. Cargoes resumed in the JoPetrol plant and covering its full capacity.™

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