AMMAN — President of the
Truck Owners Syndicate Nael Ak-Thiabat said 165 oil tanks arrived overland from Iraq
following a two-month hiatus, Al-Mamlaka TV reported.
اضافة اعلان
The government attributed the pause in oil imports
from Iraq to “logistical” reasons on the Iraqi side. But economists contended
that the halted supplies were sparked by political tensions in Iraq, mainly
between the government in Baghdad and Kurds who are in command of the Kirkuk
oilfield, the source of the supply to Jordan.
Earlier this week, local media outlets quoted
Minister of Energy and Mineral resources Saleh Al-Kharabsheh as saying that
“following completion of logistical procedures, Iraqi oil exports to Jordan
have been resumed.”
Thiabat, who is also the director of the company
that transfers oil from Iraq to Jordan, pointed out that the tanks arrived to
the Jordan Petroleum Refinery in Al-Zarqa, explaining that there is a
continuous coordination and facilitative measures on borders between the two
countries.
He also said “last week we started importing with an
amount of 40 tanks a day,” adding the syndicate always liaises with the
Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad, and the Iraqi Embassy in Amman to ease up all
procedures which could hamper the flow between the two neighboring countries.
Kharabsheh, the energy minister of energy, has said
that the “loading process started from the new site (Kirkuk Modern Warehouse)
instead of (Al-Siniya/Baiji station).
He explained that the Ministry of Energy, with the
close follow-up of the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad, reached with the Ministry
of Oil and the Oil Marketing Company (SOMO) Iraq, to extend the memorandum of
understanding for the supply of crude oil.
The memorandum
was signed on January 28, 2021, and Jordan wants it to be extended until
December 31, 2022, to allow for the transfer of the remaining contractual
amounts stipulated in the memorandum.
From September 2021 until the end of July 2022,
Jordan had imported from Iraq about 2.525 million barrels of oil, or about
8,359 barrels per day, which were transported by 9,678 tanks from the site
(Al-Siniya/Baiji station) to the Zarqa refinery site.
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