Jordan received around 983,000 barrels of Iraqi oil in Q1 2020 — Zawati

AMMAN — The Kingdom received some 983,000 barrels of Iraqi oil during the first quarter of 2020, at an average of 10,800 barrels per day, Minister of Energy Hala Zawati said on Thursday, stressing that transporting Iraqi oil is ongoing.

In a statement to the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Zawati said that the Jordan Petroleum Refinery in Zarqa received a total of 2.1 million barrels between September 5, 2019 and the end of March, 2020.

Highlighting that the transportation of Iraqi oil is ongoing, the minister said that Iraqi oil tankers unload crude oil into Jordanian tankers at the border between the two countries, in line with the government’s precautionary measures to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The import of Iraqi oil comes within the framework of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the two countries, under which Jordan buys Iraqi crude oil (Kirkuk crude oil) at an average of 10,000 barrels per day to meet part of its annual needs.

Iraqi crude oil is sold to Jordan on the basis of the average monthly price of Brent crude, from which the difference in transport costs and the difference in specifications are deducted.

Iraq has approved a plan to provide Jordan with 10,000 barrels of oil daily from Baiji in Iraq to the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company via tankers. Under the MoU, the oil will cover 7 per cent of the Kingdom’s daily demand.