Prequalifying of companies for Iraqi-Jordanian pipeline bid completed — Baghdad

AMMAN — The Iraqi Ministry of Oil on Saturday announced that it has completed the prequalifying process for companies interested in participating in the Iraqi-Jordanian oil pipeline project. 

The first phase of the project includes installing a 700-kilometre-long pipeline with a capacity of 2.250 million barrels within the Iraqi territories (Rmeilah-Haditha), according to an Iraqi Ministry of Oil statement made available to The Jordan Times. 

The second phase includes installing a 900-kilometre pipeline in Jordan between Haditha and Aqaba with a capacity of one million barrels.   

Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister for Energy and Minister of Oil Thamir Ghadhban said that the ministry had earlier formed a team to prepare legal contracts, address financial issues and oversee technical standards for implementing the project, according to the statement.

Ghadhban noted that the ministry set next May as the final date to receive offers for the project from the qualified companies.

The ministry will then review the offers and select the company that will "be instrumental in serving the public interest and achieving the ministry's goals", the statement said. 

The minister added that the ministry will select the winners of the bid before the end of 2020. 

The ministry said that the pipeline inside Iraq will be installed according to the engineering, procurement, construction and financing contract (EPCF) model, while in Jordan it will be executed under the build–own–operate–transfer (BOOT) system.

A ministerial meeting was held in Baghdad in February under the chairmanship of both countries’ prime ministers, during which they agreed to move forward with the pipeline project and grant Jordan the right to buy 150,000 barrels of oil transferred through the $5-billion pipeline project.

In January, Iraq approved a plan to provide Jordan with 10,000 barrels of oil daily from Baiji in Iraq to the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company through tankers.

The tender for transporting the crude oil was floated by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources in March in implementation of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Jordan and Iraq in early February to import Iraqi oil.

Under the MoU, the oil will cover 7 per cent of the Kingdom’s daily demand.