Jordan, Egypt, Iraq discuss oil, gas cooperation

Jordanian Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Ibrahim Saif on Tuesday will discuss in Cairo with his Egyptian and Iraqi counterparts developments regarding the Basra-Aqaba pipeline project that was agreed upon by the three countries in Amman in November 2015, Petra news agency reported.

According to a ministry statement issued on Monday, Saif is heading a delegation to Cairo on Tuesday to discuss activating a memorandum of understanding signed with Egypt's Minister of Petroleum Tariq el Mullah, and Iraq's Oil Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi in Amman in November 2015, to strengthen mutual cooperation in the field of oil and gas through an oil pipeline project from Iraq to the port of Aqaba on the Red Sea.

The Jordanian-Iraqi oil pipeline and the parallel gas pipeline, constitute an ambitious project for its role in achieving integration and enhancing energy security between the two countries after moving toward implementing the project when concluding related technical studies, the statement said.

According to the MoU, Jordan is to benefit from Iraqi crude oil and liquefied gas to meet its needs of oil products and natural gas and generate electricity.

The Iraqi government had approved an additional route for implementing the project, situated near the Saudi border and provided the project with additional features, notably the reduction of the distance of the pipeline, which will carry the crude oil, therefore reducing the project costs.

The Jordanian-Iraqi pipeline oil is a project underway aims at transferring crude oil from Basra, in southern Iraq, to Aqaba on the Red Sea, southern Jordan.