The Ministry of Oil announces the signing of a contract for the construction of Basra-Aqaba pipeline




27/5/2017

Baghdad / Range

The Ministry of Oil confirmed on Friday that it is in the process of concluding a pipeline contract for the export of Iraqi oil through Jordanian territory, to be signed with the company executing soon, indicating that this line will be a new outlet for Iraq to export oil and reap additional revenue. While experts confirm the oil issue that the line will be an important strategic alternative in the event of tension in the Gulf may lead to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The pipeline, estimated at 18 billion dollars, is 1,700 kilometers long and will be built in two phases. The first will run from Basra to Haditha in the province of Anbar, 300 km long and run by the Iraqi Ministry of Oil. To export oil to the rest of the world. The project was expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Spokesman for the Ministry of Oil Assem Jihad said in an interview for "(to extent): There have been negotiations Marathon with more than one on the project of extending the oil pipeline between Iraq and Jordan, after the end of negotiations was put the findings of the ministerial committee formed, the Council of Ministers, Adding that the Ministry of Oil is now working on the completion of its procedures, where the contract will be concluded during the next period between the officials in Iraq and Jordan and the investor company, and after the completion of the signing of the contract will be announced the period of time taken to complete the project and all other details related to it.

The project of the Iraqi-Jordanian oil pipeline is an investment project, and a coalition of companies to build and spend it and then recover part of its investments after the pipeline operation, according to Jihad, which also confirms that Iraq will not spend on this project any money, the company that extends this pipeline will include the agreement With it to supply Jordan with part of the quantities of oil passing by the prevailing price and according to its needs, and the other part of the oil goes to export, which confirms that it will be a strategic pipe aimed at strengthening economic relations with neighboring countries and exchange with them. It is also hoped that this project will extend to North Africa via Egypt.

Jihad said that the Iraq-Jordan pipeline will also be a new outlet for Iraq to export oil, and here lies the benefit for Iraq, the presence of a new port means the existence of additional revenues to Iraq, in addition to the current southern and northern implementers.

The Iraqi Council of Ministers approved the minutes of the meeting of the Jordanian and Iraqi sides on the follow-up to the implementation of the recommendations of the Jordanian-Jordanian High Joint Committee on the field of energy and mineral wealth, which includes extending the pipeline of exporting Iraqi oil through Jordanian territory and demanding the Jordanian side to improve the specifications of fuel oil and crude oil As well as discounts and price adjustments.

The oil pipeline, according to the expert in the oil, Dergam Mohammed Ali, the importance of a major strategy for Iraq, through the diversification of export outlets and not limited to the two ports are Basra and Jihan Turkish, which is currently almost non-existent, and says in an interview with "(to the extent): This line will be an important strategic alternative.

If the tension in the Gulf may lead to the closure of the Straits of Hormuz, not to mention that it will enable Iraq to increase the volume of exports in line with the growth of oil production, as the floating ports in the south does not block alone these increases resulting from licensing rounds.

The chairman of the Iraqi Business Council in Jordan, Majid al-Saadi, said in a press statement that the Jordanian side will receive a fee for the transit of Iraq's oil pipeline estimated at 500 million to six hundred million dollars a year in addition to operating in the manpower and supporting companies to build the project.

Iraq signed with the Jordanian side in April last year an agreement to extend a pipeline to transport Iraqi crude oil from the city of Basra to the port of Aqaba in preparation for export.

The first part of the pipeline is expected to transport about 2.25 million barrels of oil per day, while the amount of oil that will reach the port of Aqaba through the pipeline million barrels per day and the transfer of 850 thousand barrels to the Jordan Petroleum refinery, in addition to another pipeline to transport 100 million cubic meters Of the gas will be used by Jordan to produce electricity.

The project is estimated to cost about $ 18 billion.

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