Page 8 - MEOG Week 26 2021
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MEOG POLICY MEOG
by way of an addition to the 2019 agreement the transportation cost was calculated at $11
which covered 10,000 bpd of crude oil sup- from Baiji to Jordan, and this is among the items
plies. Last week’s ‘reactivation’ of the deal also of bilateral agreements between the two coun-
included continued implementation of a 300-km tries, and the supreme interest is valued by the
dual-circuit electric antenna transmission line country and the government.”
that connects Jordan’s Risha conversion station
and Iraq’s al-Qaim substation. This will provide Syria
around 1,000 GWh per year of electricity to Iraq. In Jordan, Energy Minister Hala Zawati dis-
The two governments signed a deal last year that cussed the status of work to connect their grids
sought to interconnect the countries’ electricity and the condition of the Arab Gas Pipeline
grid as part of a wider ‘Gulf Grid’ as Iraq seeks (AGP) with Syrian Oil Minister Bassam Tomeh
to wean itself off reliance on Iranian electricity. and Electricity Minister Ghassan Zamel.
The pre-existing bilateral deal was signed in They discussed collaboration in renewables,
February 2019 for Iraq to cover around 7% of gas, rehabilitating the AGP and the importance
Jordan’s oil demand. After lengthy delays, the of cross-border electricity interconnectivity.
first batch of Iraqi crude was trucked from Baiji Both Tomeh and Zamel spoke of their desire
to Jordan via Kirkuk in September that year. co-operate with Jordan to rehabilitate the vital
At the time, it was reported that Jordan would infrastructure, with Syria only likely to play the
purchase the oil at a $16 per barrel discount to role of importer. For Jordan, this could be an
Brent in order to cover the transport and devia- opportunity to find an offtaker for its oversup-
tion in specifications with Iraqi goods exported ply of electricity from solar projects with which
through the port of Aqaba, receiving preferential the grid cannot cope, causing delays to project
rates in return. progress.
However, in early January, in an interview Meanwhile, Iraq has also spoken to Syria
with the Iraq News Agency (INA), Alaa al-Ya- about potentially importing Egyptian gas
siri, general manager of Iraq’s state oil marketer through the country, though this would require
SOMO, said: “The Oil Marketing Company the major rehabilitation work on damaged con-
does not have differential prices, but rather fixed duits connecting Baniyas and either Haditha
prices according to the market … Jordan stip- in central Iraq or an old line which links to the
ulated that, according to the Cabinet’s decision, Kirkuk-Ceyhan in the north.
P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 26 30•June•2021
