‘Jordan awaiting new shipment of 150,000 cubic metres of LNG’

AMMAN — Jordan will receive a new shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the middle of this month, an official said Tuesday. 

A vessel laden with 150,000 cubic metres of LNG is scheduled to arrive in Aqaba to unload at the LNG terminal in the port city, according to Energy Ministry Spokesperson Haidar Gammaz.

The shipment will be provided by Shell, he said, adding that Jordan received a shipment of 130,000 cubic metres of LNG last weekend. 

“A new shipment will arrive every 10 to 11 days to power the country’s electricity stations,” Gammaz said. 

Jordan said in late July that it was seeking to buy 59.13 trillion British thermal units of LNG.

The state-owned National Electric Power Company has floated a tender seeking offers to buy the quantity of LNG over a period of four years, starting in January 2016, according to a statement on the company’s website.

The company said the LNG must be delivered to Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Terminal in Aqaba and bids will be accepted until September 2.

This is the largest tender so far to buy LNG. 

Jordan is expected to receive more than 15 LNG shipments during the second half of this year.

According to figures by the state-run power company, the terminal is currently supplying the country’s power stations with 8.9 million cubic metres of gas per day.

The Kingdom, which imports about 97 per cent of its energy needs annually, was forced to switch to importing diesel and heavy fuel for power generation after repeated cuts in the natural gas supply from Egypt that was completely halted in early 2014.