Jordan to receive first shipment of Iraqi crude shortly

Sep 18, 2007, 14:25 GMT

Amman - Jordan will receive first shipment of Iraqi oil shortly, the state-run Jordan Petra news agency reported Tuesday.

'Petra has learnt that the first shipment of Iraqi crude is currently on its way to Jordanian territory,' the agency said without giving further details.

Earlier Tuesday, the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki assured his Jordanian counterpart Marouf Bakhit that the Iraqi government was 'committed to supplying Jordan with part of its oil requirements in compliance with a memorandum of understanding' that was signed between the two countries last year.

Al-Maliki called Bakhit to congratulate him on the advent of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Petra said.

Jordanian Energy Minister Khalid Sheraydeh said recently that the Iraqi government had informed Jordan about its 'readiness to start supplying the Kingdom with Iraqi crude'.

He pointed out that the memorandum of understanding that was signed during Bakhit's visit to Baghdad provided for supplying Jordan with 10,000 barrels of crude per day at the beginning.

'The quantity will increase gradually to cover Jordan's total daily consumption' of 100,000 barrels, he said.

'The Iraqi government will take the responsibility of ensuring protection for car tankers during their journey from Kirkuk to the Iraqi-Jordanian borders, while Jordanian tankers will be waiting at the frontiers to take the loads,' he added.

During a rare visit to Baghdad by Bakhit in August last year, the two countries reach agreement for providing Jordan with Iraqi oil at 'preferential prices'.

But the two countries failed to implement the accord so far because they were unable to ensure protection for car tankers carrying the Iraqi crude to Jordan.

Iraqi energy supplies to Jordan were halted abruptly on the eve of the US-led invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003, that led to the collapse of the previous regime of Saddam Hussein.

Over about 13 years since Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, the Baghdad government supplied the Hashemite kingdom with Iraqi crude at nearly half price.

After Saddam's ouster, three Arab oil-rich countries - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq - volunteered to compensate Jordan for the lost Iraqi oil donation, but they decided to stop their crude gift early in 2005, forcing the Jordanian treasury to suffer as a result of buying oil at world prices.