AMMAN —
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) stated on Tuesday
that Jordan could utilize an unused liquefied natural gas plant in Aqaba, in
case of pipeline supply disruptions due to increasing tension and political
pressure due to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
اضافة اعلان
According to Al-Mamlaka TV, the
National Electric Power Company (NEPCO), owned by Jordan, manages the use of natural gas under an
agreement with the Leviathan field in the Mediterranean. Thus far this has
meant that
Israel's gas supplies to Jordan take precedence over its exports to
other countries, allowing gas exports to Jordan to remain stable under the
agreement.
However, S&P warned that there are risks to this
arrangement if political pressure escalates in either of the countries or if
security risks along the pipeline increase. It noted that some major industrial
users in
Jordan directly import gas from Israel, suggesting that this smaller
portion of non-NEPCO imports may be more vulnerable to supply disruptions.
Jordan has practically relied on Israeli gas for all its
needs since 2020. However, it currently has an unused liquefied natural gas
plant in Aqaba, which could be used in case of pipeline supply disruptions.
S&P also mentioned that it does not currently expect
Israel to stop or significantly reduce its
gas exports to Jordan. Israeli gas
production has decreased by 50 percent since the start of the conflict in Gaza.
Israel produced around 22 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2022,
approximately 1 percent of the global total, exporting a combined 9 billion
cubic meters to Egypt and Jordan, with most of Israel's gas production coming
from offshore fields in the Mediterranean Sea.
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