Industrialists, exporters see gains from natural gas

AMMAN — Jordan Chamber on Industry (JCI) President Adnan Abul Ragheb on Monday commended a Cabinet decision issued Sunday to provide national industries with natural gas, saying the decision will have a positive impact on production costs and competitiveness.

He described the decision as an important step towards preparing the national industries in the future to use natural gas in all forms should it be available at competitive prices in the local market.

Abul Ragheb called for exempting natural gas from all taxes in order to have industrialists shift to this power supply, noting that the Council of Ministers in January exempted this energy resource from a 30 per cent customs fee and imposed a 16 per cent special sales tax.

The Council of Ministers tasked a steering committee with following up on the implementation of this decision and identifying priorities for providing gas based on available infrastructure at targeted factories.

Energy Minister Ibrahim Saif said Sunday that the plants requiring natural gas will be connected to the network of the Jordanian Egyptian FAJR Company, which is responsible for transporting natural gas.

Also on Monday, the Jordan Exporters Association (JEA) praised the decision which, it said, would lower production costs and increase the sector's competitiveness.

JEA President Omar Abu Wishah said that factories' dependence on the natural gas, instead of the heavy fuel, would contribute to decreasing the power bill which constitutes 25 per cent of the Kingdom's total imports.

Abu Wishah noted that many factories prepared their infrastructure within the past few years and imported necessary equipment to rely on the natural gas in their production.

He also added the decision will boost the national industries' competitiveness in local and external markets through lowering production costs, especially that energy prices have direct impact on the value of all other production inputs.