Jordan to build natural gas terminals

Jordan on Thursday signed agreements with several local and international companies to build two liquefied petroleum and natural gas terminals in the Red Sea city of Aqaba. The first terminal at a total cost of 65 million U.S. dollars will be used for storing liquefied natural gas and implemented by BAM International and MAG Engineering Company, the state-run Aqaba Development Corporation said in a statement e-mailed to Xinhua. The terminal will have a total capacity of about 165,000 cubic meters, it said, adding that the creation of the terminal will help reduce losses incurred to Jordan's economy in light of the repeated cuts in natural gas supply from Egypt. The second terminal, to be used for liquefied petroleum gas, will cost about 21 million U.S. dollars, it said. The terminal will be jointly built by BUTEC International and Ahamd Al Tarawneh and Partners Contracting Company, it added. Kamel Mahadin, chief commissioner of the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority, stressed the importance of the two terminals to meeting Jordan's rising energy needs. Jordan, which imports about 97 percent of its energy needs, was forced to import large quantities of diesel and heavy fuel for power generation, following several cuts in natural gas supply from Egypt as the Egyptian gas pipeline located in Sinai has been bombed several times since toppling former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.