'Jordan awards Shell new tender to supply LNG'

AMMAN — Jordan has awarded a tender to Royal Dutch Shell to buy a new cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for power generation, according to a top official in the energy sector.

The state-run National Electric Power Company said it selected an offer by Shell to provide 3.3 trillion British Thermal Units (BTU) to be supplied to Jordan on July 23, Abdel Fattah Al Daradkeh, the director general of the company, told The Jordan Times on Sunday.

“We received offers from several companies that we have master agreements with. The offer by Shell was the cheapest therefore it was selected,” Daradkeh added.

According to the company, more than 80 per cent of Jordan’s electricity is currently generated by LNG.

“The new cargo will be supplied to the LNG Terminal in Aqaba and later to power plants across the country,” said Daradkeh, adding that more tenders are expected to be offered during the upcoming period for more imports of LNG based on the country’s needs.

In 2015, Royal Dutch Shell was awarded a tender to provide Jordan with 59.13 trillion BTU of natural gas per year for two years, which covers about 40 per cent of Jordan’s electricity needs. 

In addition to the two-year deal with Shell, Jordan signed a separate agreement with the same company in early 2015 under which Shell provides the Kingdom with 150 million cubic feet of LNG per day for the next five years.

The Kingdom, which imports about 97 per cent of its energy needs, became an importer of LNG after the opening of a terminal to receive it in Aqaba in mid-2015.

Jordan was forced to switch to importing diesel and heavy fuel for power generation after repeated cuts in the natural gas supply from Egypt and a complete halt to supplies in early 2014.