Kharabsheh calls on industrial sector to submit analysis on its natural gas needs

AMMAN — Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Saleh Al Kharabsheh on Thursday urged industrialists to conduct a thorough analysis to identify factories' needs of natural gas to lower operational costs and improve competitiveness.

During a meeting with representatives from the industry sector at the Amman Chamber of Industry, Kharabsheh stressed that the study should focus on industrial clusters and include usage quantities, besides the anticipated growth rates of consumption, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

He said that the waste of energy resources in the Kingdom is 25 per cent higher than the global average.

A number of projects, including hotels at the Dead Sea shores, have reduced their energy bills by 60 per cent, thanks to the rationalising of power consumption policies, he said.

Head of the Jordan and Amman Chambers of Industry Fathi Jaghbir noted that the industry sector can provide jobs for 90 per cent of the workforce, if the operational costs go down, calling for imposing restrictions on imports of products that are produced domestically.

If production costs will not be reduced, the Jordan-made products cannot compete, he warned, adding "we must move toward providing the factories with natural gas to reduce costs."