‘Oil pipeline with Jordan a priority for Iraq’

AMMAN — The oil pipeline between Iraq and Jordan is a priority for the Iraqi government to serve its economy and guarantee the sustainability of exports, Iraqi Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Tuesday.

Baghdad is currently considering the best alternatives to change the pipeline's course to pass through safer areas inside the country, Zebari told the Jordan News Agency, Petra, on the sidelines of a press conference held in Amman with the head of the International Monetary Fund's mission to Iraq.

The minister announced that an official Iraqi delegation, chaired by Oil Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi, will visit Amman early next week to discuss new arrangements for the pipeline with officials at the Energy Ministry and the government in the presence of the Egyptian energy minister.

The Iraqi minister noted that one alternative entails starting the pipeline from Najaf and extending it westwards near the Saudi border before entering Jordan to reach Aqaba, from which the oil will be exported to the Egyptian and international markets.

The Iraqi government estimates the total cost of the pipeline at around $15 billion, a project that international companies will implement on a build, operate and transfer basis, Petra added.

The project was originally envisioned as a 1,680km double pipeline that would pump 1 million barrels of oil a day from Basra on the Arabian Gulf to Aqaba Port, and around 258 million cubic feet of gas.

It is expected to provide Jordan with 150,000 barrels of oil per day, while the rest will be exported through Aqaba, generating an estimated $3 billion a year in revenues for the Kingdom.