Page 7 - MEOG Week 26 2021

MEOG POLICY MEOG

Regional talks expected

to expand collaboration

MIDDLE EAST DISCUSSIONS between neighbours in the Mid- Egypt and Jordan.
dle East are likely to lead to improved intercon- With details scarce, it can only be assumed
nectivity in oil, gas and electricity. that the pipeline in discussion would be an
A meeting was held in Baghdad between extension of the planned 1mn barrel per day
Egypt, Jordan and Iraq that comes under a (bpd) Basra-Aqaba pipeline.
framework tripartite co-operation mechanism Preliminary work to develop the $5bn con-
that was launched during their first meeting in duit is thought to be nearing, with the Iraqi
Cairo two years ago. Meanwhile, Jordan’s Energy Ministry of Oil (MoO) expected to announce
Minister met with her Syrian counterpart in contract winners by the end of the year. In May,
Amman to discuss infrastructure progress. the ministry clarified that the pipeline inside Iraq
would be installed according to the engineering,
Three-way collab procurement, construction and financing con-
Following the meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister tract (EPCF) model, while in Jordan it will be
Mustafa al-Kadhimi and Jordan’s King Abdullah executed under the build-own-operate-transfer
II, the office of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah (BOOT) system.
el-Sisi said that the leaders had discussed several The Jordanian government has also approved
areas of common interest, including combating a deal with the Iraqi federal government to build
terrorism and economic co-operation. two oil and gas pipelines connecting the neigh-
It added that “the leaders stressed the need bouring countries, Jordanian state-run news
to intensify consultation and co-ordination agency Petra reported.
between the three countries on the most impor- The project is divided into two phases: the
tant regional issues”. first phase includes installing a 700-km pipeline
Meanwhile, a statement from Kadhimi’s with a capacity of 2.25mn barrels from Rumaila
office said: “This visit is an important message to to Haditha; the second phase includes installing
our people that we are mutually supportive and a 900-km pipeline in Jordan between Haditha
unified to serve our people and the people of the and Aqaba with a capacity of 1mn barrels.
region.” Total cross-border capacity is expected to be
Following the event, Iraqi Foreign Minister 1mn bpd of oil and 258mn cubic feet (7.3mn
Fuad Hussein told a press conference that the cubic metres) per day of gas.
topics discussed had included economic and In February, the governments of Iraq and
political co-operation, large-scale industrial Jordan renewed an oil supply contract follow-
projects, and trade in medicine and agricultural ing a meeting between Prime Ministers Mustafa
pesticides. al-Kadhimi and Bisher al-Khasawneh.
Following the meetings in Amman, Egyptian The two parties said that “issues of common
Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker that the concern” had been discussed during the meet-
three countries had proposed a 1,000-MW pro- ing, noting that they had sought “to achieve
ject “to support the exchange of electrical power integration of interests and strategy and in all
and take advantage of the different peak times”. economic, investment and trade fields.”
Meanwhile, Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum Tarek Ties between Amman and Baghdad have
el Mulla said that his country was keen to estab- strengthened in recent years and their mutual
lish a pipeline to transport Iraqi crude oil to interest in the success of this deal was revealed

Week 26 30•June•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P7