Page 6 - MEOG Week 12 2021

MEOG PIPELINES & TRANSPORT MEOG

Iraq and Egypt continue

pipeline extension talks

IRAQ DURING talks this week with Egypt’s ambassa- contract (EPCF) model, while in Jordan it will be
dor in Baghdad, Iraq’s Oil Minister discussed the executed under the build-own-operate-transfer
possibility of extending the long-awaited 1mn (BOOT) system.
barrel per day (bpd) Basra-Aqaba oil pipeline Meanwhile, the Jordanian government has
into Egypt. also approved a deal with the Iraqi federal gov-
Iraq’s Ihsan Abdul Jabbar said that he and ernment to build two oil and gas pipelines con-
Ambassador Ahmed Ismail has talked about necting the neighbouring countries.
extending the pipeline, an idea that was sug- The project is divided into two phases: the
gested by Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum Tarek first phase includes installing a 700-km pipeline
el-Molla last year during a tripartite between with a capacity of 2.25mn bpd from Rumaila to
Egypt, Iraq and Jordan. Haditha, while the second phase includes install-
Abdul Jabbar said: “Iraq welcomes the contri- ing a 900-km pipeline in Jordan between Hadi-
butions of Egyptian oil companies to the imple- tha and Aqaba with a capacity of 1mn bpd.
mentation of infrastructure projects in the oil Total cross-border capacity is expected to be
sector.” He added: “One of the objectives of the 1mn bpd of oil and 258mn cubic feet (7.31mn
government and the ministry is to work towards cubic metres) per day of gas.
strengthening relations with [other] countries in MoO spokesperson Assem Jihad said in mid-
the world and the region, and with neighbouring 2019 that “investment offers from international
countries, especially Egypt.” companies” were under evaluation on the bases
Meanwhile, Thomson Reuters Zawya quoted of establishing “the pipeline in return for a per-
Maher Taher, Governor of Zubair, as saying that centage that will be deducted for each exported
the planned pipeline would have four pumping barrel”.
stations in Iraq and three in Jordan, adding that The route of the pipeline has changed because
the project is currently in the engineering study of unrest in Anbar Province. In November 2019,
phase. Russia’s Stroytransgaz Oil won a 35-year E&P
The Iraqi Ministry of Oil (MoO) was deal for Block 17, north-west of Samawah, along
expected to announce contract winners for the the route of the pipeline.
$5bn conduit by the end of last year. In May, The deal was noteworthy because of the chal-
the ministry clarified that the pipeline inside lenges of operating in the area and because the
Iraq will be installed according to the engineer- Gazprom subsidiary is a pipeline rather than
ing, procurement, construction and financing exploration specialist.™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 12 24•March•2021