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that could eventually link the three countries, most of their oil needs, Iraq is one of the top received final proposals from three
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al Safadi five exporting members of Opec. engineering consortiums for the construction
said on Tuesday. Mr Al Safadi said the three countries are of the four new production trains at Ras
“This is a vital and strategic issue that seeking “integration, whether in the energy, Laffan, each capable of producing 8.25mn t/yr.
benefits the three countries positively. Ground construction, pharmaceuticals sectors, or in “We continue to move full steam ahead
has been covered towards activating it,” Mr food security”. with the North Field expansion projects and
Al Safadi told a news conference in Cairo “We will be creating the political horizon expect to sign all remaining [engineering,
after a meeting with his Egyptian and Iraqi and it will be the private sector in our three procurement and construction] EPC contracts
counterparts. countries and in the region that will start before the end of this year as previously
Jordan and Iraq signed an agreement working on many of these projects,” Mr Al announced,” al-Kaabi said.
in 2013 to build the pipeline from Basra to Safadi said. ARGUS
Aqaba, passing through Jordan’s only refinery AL KHALEEJ
in Zarqa near Amman. Optimizing engine rooms
The proposed pipeline had an initial
capacity of 150,000 barrels per day and had a GAS to save 500 mcm of gas
cost of $18 billion. It was due for completion
in 2017 but the project was not realised. Qatar says LNG expansion annually
The two countries revived the project
this year, as diplomatic relations between may not stop at 126mn t/yr Head of the National Iranian Gas Company
them improved, and the pipeline scheme was (NIGC) said that optimizing the engine rooms
expanded to include Egypt. Qatar has reaffirmed the potential for further of the residential and commercial buildings
Iraqi prime minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi, expansion of its LNG capacity beyond its across the country is going to save 500 million
who is supported by the United States, started 126mn t/yr target. cubic meters (mcm) of gas every year, Shana
a rapprochement with Sunni Arab states The country is already working on plans reported.
as soon as he took office in May this year, to boost its existing 77mn t/yr of liquefaction Speaking in the unveiling ceremony of a
making it clear he wants to carve a foreign capacity to 110mn t/yr by 2025, adding four national program for optimizing the engine
policy outside the sway of Iran. production trains at the Ras Laffan terminal rooms of residential and commercial units
He immediately took steps to mend ties to export gas from its North Field expansion on Tuesday, Hassan Montazer Torbati said:
with Arab states annoyed at the Baghdad project. “Optimizing energy consumption is not the
government’s perceived subjection to Tehran. A second phase is due to expand capacity responsibility of the Oil Ministry and the
Mr Al Kadhimi sent his most trusted further to 126mn t/yr by 2027. And Qatari National Gas Company and this issue should
confidant in the cabinet, Finance Minister energy minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi be pursued by consumers such as power
Ali Allawi, to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in reiterated at a conference in Japan yesterday plants and industries.
May. He signalled to Amman the possibility that extra capacity on top of that is a “Regardless, this issue is very important
of importing electricity from Jordan, which possibility. because despite the development of South
could lessen Iraq’s reliance on gas supplies “In 2017, we announced our intention Pars, this field alone cannot meet the country’s
from Iran. to increase our LNG production capacity to consumption needs and if consumption is not
Although Jordan was a base for US planes 100mn t/yr. The target was then increased in controlled gas supply will be interrupted,” he
that took part in the American-led invasion 2018 to 110mn t/yr, and again, as we obtained said.
that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003, more data on the capability of our giant North That is why, since the beginning of this
relations between Amman and Baghdad have Field, the target was increased in 2019 to Iranian year (March 2020), in the meetings
been volatile. In 2004, Jordan’s King Abdullah 126mn t/yr by 2027,” he said. with the Oil Minister, it was decided for the
warned that Tehran was building a “Shiite “As history has shown, we don’t expect ministry to also enter the area of optimization
crescent” across the Levant, putting Baghdad, to stop at 126mn. We continue to strive to and use the ministry’s capacities to optimize
Damascus and Beirut under the tutelage of develop our natural gas resources and lead the the consumption in engine rooms, the official
Iran’s clerical rulers. way in the world’s LNG value chain.” added.
Unlike Egypt and Jordan, which import Last month Qatar’s state-owned QP Torbati further noted that the

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