Jordan floats tender for Iraqi oil shipments

AMMAN — Jordan on Tuesday floated a tender for transporting crude oil from Iraq to the Kingdom’s sole refinery following an agreement between the two countries to resume crude oil shipments to Jordan.

The tender, floated by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, is for transporting no more than 10,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Iraq’s Baiji oil refinery to Jordan’s Petroleum Refinery Company in Zarqa Governorate.

The ministry called on specialised and interested companies to submit bids for the transport of crude oil. The deadline to submit bids is April 4th, according to a statement obtained by The Jordan Times.

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Hala Zawati said the tender follows a memorandum of understanding signed between Jordan and Iraq in February.

The instability in Iraq in 2014 brought trucked oil shipments to a complete halt.

Jordan will receive Iraqi oil discounted by $16 from the price of Brent crude per barrel, to cover the difference in transport costs and deviations in specifications. 

Under the memorandum of understanding signed by the minister and her Iraqi counterpart, Thamer Ghadban, at the Karameh-Turaibil border crossing in February, the Kingdom will buy 10,000 barrels of crude oil per day from its neighbour, which covers 7 per cent of the Kingdom’s daily demand.

The memorandum also stipulates that the quantity of oil imported by the Kingdom from Iraq is subject to increases later on with the agreement of both sides. 

The two countries agreed on other areas of cooperation in the energy sector in February. Jordan is expected to start exporting electrical power to Iraq within two years, while both sides agreed to initiate studies for establishing a Basra-Aqaba oil pipeline.