Page 5 - DMEA Week 02 2020

DMEA COMMENTARY DMEA
 But protesters say that according to the deal, Israel would be the sole beneficiary, turning it into a potential energy exporter. Meanwhile, Jordan would be locked into buying 40% of its energy needs from its erstwhile enemy. It is also averred that the deal has been forced on Jordan by the US in order to support Israel, and to sup- portUScompanieswhohaveinterestsingas.
The deal would have been particularly valu- able to the US-based Noble Energy and Israel’s Delek Group, which has yet to produce any gas from Leviathan since it was discovered in 2010. Companies typically require agreements to be made in advance of producing gas from fields because they are so expensive to develop, so the Jordan deal would have made further deals on the field more likely.
The pipeline goes to Israel through the north- ern province of Mafraq and distributes the gas to the country’s power plants for electricity generation.
Since Israel discovered gas off its coast a little over a decade ago, only one field – Tamar – has produced gas for commercial consumption. It currently supplies nearly all of Israel’s gas. Its only non-domestic customers are Jordan’s state-owned Arab Potash and its affiliate Jordan Bromine.
A letter of intent (LoI) between Jordan and the Leviathan partners was signed in 2014 but the project was held up by regulatory red tape in Israel; in 2016 it was described as an important milestone in strengthening the ties and strategic partnerships between Israel and Jordan and the entire region.
The deal was never popular in Jordan, and as the project becomes active and the full details are being made known there is considerable uproar.
A way out?
Earlier this month, Jordanian MP Saleh Armouti, who obtained a copy of the agreement and shared it with the media, said the public had been misled by the government over the deal, and that despite its insistence that the agreement could not be cancelled, there were several ways out for Amman.
Armouti’s insistence that the deal contains legal loopholes has mobilised activists in the “National Campaign to Overturn the Gas Deal with the Zionist Entity” protest group, a coali- tion of professional unions, opposition parties and lawyers that has been pursuing the issue since 2016.
In courts in the cities of Irbid, Madaba, Amman, Zarqa and Karak, around 220 lawsuits were filed by lawyers on behalf of Jordanians free of charge, in an attempt to put an end to Jor- dan’s purchase of Israeli gas. Lawsuits began to be filed on Sunday and are set to continue up to Thursday.
The protesters’ aims include halting legal and business work relating to the pipes, cancel- ling land acquisitions, scrapping the deal and holding those “behind the deal” accountable.
“Among the legal loopholes is the fact that the agreement was never presented to Parliament for approval. This is a violation of paragraph 2 of article 33 of the Jordanian constitution, which states that all international agreements and treaties which have a financial burden on the treasury and affect the rights of Jordanians areconsideredinvalidifnotapproved,”Armouti said.
“The agreement can also be cancelled because the gas pipeline has not been finalised due to the rejection of the professional unions and landowners where the pipeline is supposed to pass through. Various legal cases are pending on this level.”
This raft of legal challenges filed across Jor- dan has put the kingdom’s latest controversial gas deal with Israel in jeopardy, and placed greater strain and uncertainty on the govern- ment of Prime Minister Omar al-Razzaz.
According to the MP, the conditions of the deal state that if NEPCO can prove it has finan- cial problems, it can be liquidated in accordance with Jordanian company law, thereby revoking the agreement.
Following a stormy session in Parliament in March, the government agreed to refer the gas deal to the constitutional court to decide its legality. However, the government is yet to do so.
Details
The agreement, which was signed in 2016, stip- ulates that Jordan will purchase gas that comes from Leviathan, Israel’s largest offshore gas field.
Previously, it had been reported that the most recent deal was signed by Jordan’s NEPCO, with the US company Noble Energy acting as its guarantor.
However, the leaked agreement document, which has been seen by Middle East Eye, reveals that the Jordanian and US governments are also acting as guarantors.
This has led to fears that not only is Amman committed to paying the deal’s costs, but also that if it is unable to do this then Washington will suspend its aid payments to Jordan in the event of any default.
The document also shows that were Jordan to discover its own reserves of gas, Amman would still be unable to lower the percentage it acquires by more than 20%.
One detail that the MP said the public had been misled on was that the deal was not only signed with Nobel Energy and Delek, but also with NBL, a consortium of four companies that the two are members of. Armouti questioned who was behind the other two members of NBL. In terms of payment, Jordan must remit $1.5bn in the first five years, with another $800m due after 10. If Jordan wishes to cancel the deal after 10 years, it must pay a $400m penalty.
The Jordanian government has not com- mented following Armouti’s latest revelations; the MP has threatened to table a no-confidence motion against the government unless it tears up the deal.
“ insistence that
the deal contains
legal loopholes
has mobilised
activists

Armouti’s
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