IRAQ JORDAN OIL PIPELINE
The Iraqi Ambassador in Amman is Sa'd al-hayyani who recently gave an interview to a Jordanian arabic newspaper and gave comments about the pipeline from Iraq to Jordan.
When asked about the Iraqi Jordan pipeline al-Hayyani said this.
"The issue of laying an oil pipeline from Iraq to Jordan is not new. The Iraqi and Jordanian sides have previously conducted studies on it. However, work on this project was postponed after the fall of the former regime, and before it during the period of the Iraq blockade. This pipeline complements the Iraqi pipeline that comes out of Kirkuk towards Syria and Lebanon and that stopped with Syria in the 1980s, given that the pipeline reaches the Iraqi-Jordanian border at an area inside Iraq known as 'K4,' which is 150-200 km away from the Jordanian border. The idea of the project is to lay an oil pipeline from the K4 area to the Jordanian border until it reaches the Port of Aqaba for the purpose of exporting Iraqi oil or constructing oil refineries at the Port of Aqaba, in addition to another separate pipeline that runs from the Iraqi-Jordanian border to the petroleum refinery in! Al-Zarqa Governorate. However, the thing that was discussed again is that Jordan needs 100,000 barrels of crude oil daily. It is noteworthy that the Iraqi crude oil, which is produced from the Kirkuk fields, is more suitable for the Jordanian petroleum refinery."
As you all know Jordan does purchase oil from Iraq at a 'preferential prices' and they get a great price depending on which refinery the oil is processed. Let me give you some background information in July 2007 PM Maliki went to Amman and while there had agreed to extend the oil price agreement to August 2011. If the Iraqi oil headed to Jordan was from the Bayji refinery the oil was sold at a discount of $18 per barrel below the selling price. If the oil headed to Jordan was coming from the Kirkuk refinery the discount increased to $22 per barrel below the selling price of oil.
The oil agreement was extended due to the security situation and Jordan was not getting there allocated share of the oil. Since the security on the road to Jordan has been better then the previous years Jordan now has been receiving about 10,000 barrels of oil daily.
Both countries would like to build a pipeline to replace the old one that is in place now in order to sell Jordan more barrels of oil and the rest of the world through the port of Aquba.
You will see shortly visits from Jordan officials to Iraq and Iraq government officials to Jordan to coordinate funding on building this badly needed pipeline and to sign agreements at the end of April. On the agenda will be Oil and Gas, Jordanian prisoners in Iraq, economic and trade issues, border security, visa's, and other items not yet disclosed.
Jordan is in need of 100,000 barrels per day of oil for current operations.
Jordan has been very supportive of Iraqi's and will continue to do so in the future. As the security and other conditions improves you will see Jordan alleviate the requirement for cross border crossings for Iraq's and Jordanians for commerce and tourism.
His Majesty King Abdullah II has been very supportive and compassionate for Iraqi's who had fled Iraq and relocated to Jordan at the start of the conflict.
I will keep this brief until I can think of another topic to write about.