Jordan wants to buy huge quantity of gas

AMMAN — As part of its efforts to increase reliance on natural gas for producing energy and diversify its resources, Jordan is seeking to buy 59.13 trillion British thermal units of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The state-owned National Electric Power Company has recently floated a tender seeking offers to buy the quantity of LNG over a period of four years starting in January 2016, according to a statement on the company's website.

The company said the LNG must be delivered to Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Terminal in Aqaba and bids will be accepted until September 2.

This is the largest tender to buy LNG so far. 

Haidar Gammaz, spokesperson of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, said several tenders have been already offered to buy LNG from several markets.

“Jordan received the first two shipments of LNG that arrived and were unloaded at the terminal already. Jordan is expected to receive more than 15 LNG shipments during the second half of this year,” Gammaz told The Jordan Times on Sunday.

“Jordan is working on diversifying its energy resources and especially natural gas resources; the terminal has made it possible to import LNG from several markets,” said Gammaz.

In recent remarks to The Jordan Times, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Ibrahim Saif said the port would enable the Kingdom to receive around 490 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, replacing the costly diesel and heavy fuel oil currently used in power generation.

According to figures by the state-run power company, the terminal is currently supplying the country’s power stations with 8.9 million cubic metres of gas per day.

The Kingdom, which imports about 97 per cent of its energy needs annually, was forced to switch to importing diesel and heavy fuel for power generation after repeated cuts in natural gas supply from Egypt that was also completely halted early 2014.