Jordan receives first shipment of Iraqi oil

Sep 28, 2007, 21:55 GMT

Amman - Eight tankers carrying the first shipment of Iraqi oil since the two countries reached an agreement last year arrived at the Jordanian-Iraqi border on Friday, Energy Ministry spokesman Maher Shawabkeh said.

Jordanian tankers would transport the oil to the Jordan Petroleum Refinery near Zarqa, 30 kilometres East of Amman, Shawabkeh said.

'We have been told by the Iraqi government that 166 tankers have left the Kirkuk area by September 24 heading to Jordan, but technical reasons have delayed their arrival at the Iraqi-Jordanian borders,' he said.

According to an agreement reached by the two countries last year, the Iraqi government pledged to supply Jordan with 10,000-30,000 barrels of crude oil per day at preferential prices.

Iraqi oil supplies to Jordan would increase 'gradually' under the agreement to eventually cover the entirety of Jordan's oil needs, which currently run at about 100,000 barrels per day, he said.

The implementation of the agreement, which was reached during a rare visit to Baghdad in August 2006 by Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit, was delayed due to the absence of protection on highways inside Iraq, officials said.

The former Iraqi regime of President Saddam Hussein supplied Jordan with crude and oil derivatives for almost 13 years at nearly half price, but the Iraqi oil supplies to Jordan stopped abruptly on the eve of the US-led invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003.

Three oil-rich Arab countries - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates - immediately volunteered to meet Jordan's energy requirements free of charge, but decided to stop their oil gift early in 2005, forcing Jordan to buy oil at prices on the world market.