Iraq, Jordan Sign $18 bn Oil, Gas Pipeline Deal

Jordan and Iraq have signed an agreement to build an $18 billion double pipeline project that will supply the kingdom with Iraqi crude oil and natural gas, Jordan Times reported citing Iraq’s oil ministry.

“The Iraqi oil minister has signed the agreement in Baghdad and the deal was sent to and signed by the Jordanian energy minister on Sunday,” Nihad Mossa, director general of State Company for Oil Projects at the ministry of oil of Iraq, told The Jordan Times. Mossa said that Iraq is ready to immediately implement the plan.

The 1,680-kilometre double pipeline will pump one-million barrels of oil a day from Basra on the Arabian Gulf to Jordan’s Aqaba Port, and around 258 million cubic feet of gas, Jordan Times said.

Jordan Times said that ipeline from Basra to Haditha in Iraq will be built at the expense of the Iraqi government on the basis of the “engineering, procurement and construction” principle. The pipeline from Haditha to Aqaba will be built on the “build, operate, transfer” basis.