‘Iraq determined to complete oil-gas pipeline’

DEAD SEA — Jordan and Iraq are serious about building an $4.5 billion pipeline to import crude oil from Basra to the port city of Aqaba, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Saleh Al Mutlaq said Friday.

“This is a vital project for Iraq and Jordan… It should be clear that Iraq is determined to implement the project in spite of the challenges on the ground,” he said in an interview with The Jordan Times on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum held at the eastern shores of the Dead Sea.

“We will do all it takes to implement the project and the project is still on the agenda,” he said.

At an energy conference held this week, Ghaleb Maabreh, secretary general of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, said there is determination to complete the project. However, he said it will not be completed on schedule.

The official added that a change in the route of the pipeline is expected to complete the project.

The 1,680km double pipeline will pump one million barrels of oil a day from Basra on the Arabian Gulf to Aqaba Port, and around 258 million cubic feet of gas. 

The Basra-Aqaba oil pipeline, which is expected to be operational late in 2017, will provide Jordan with 150,000 barrels of oil per day, while the rest will be exported through Aqaba, generating an estimated $3 billion a year in revenues for the Kingdom. 

Approximately 100 million cubic feet of natural gas will fulfil Jordan’s gas requirements and the rest will be used in pumping stations along the double pipeline. 

 Iraq’s production of oil is expected to reach 4.9 million barrels per day in 2015 and 9 million barrels per day in 2020, according to Iraqi officials.