Iraq to sign new MoU to supply Jordan with crude oil
The Bai Hassan oilfield northwest of Kirkuk, Iraq. Photo: Reuters
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) announced recently that a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed soon between Iraq and Jordan to resume supplying Jordan Petroleum Refinery with crude oil, according to a statement cited by the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
The statement revealed that the last MoU signed between the Iraqi Ministry of Oil and the Jordanian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources includes supplying the Jordanian side with 10,000 barrels per day of crude oil from oilfields in Kirkuk, but it ended on March 31, and accordingly, the supply of crude oil to the Jordan Petroleum Refinery stopped.
At the request of the Jordanian side, the approval of the Council of Ministers was obtained on March 28 to conclude a new MoU between Iraq and Jordan, and it will be signed soon, the statement revealed.
The processing of crude oil will resume to Jordan Petroleum Refinery after the supply contract is signed, the statement added.
The director of the company carrying Iraqi oil to Jordan, Nael Thiabat, mentioned earlier that the company stopped importing oil from Iraq until the government signs a MoU between the two countries, indicating that the delay may be from the Iraqi side.
Thiabat indicated that the new memorandum of understanding will allow Jordan to import 10,000 barrels per day, indicating that 310,000 barrels of oil were imported from Iraq during March.
Iraq had agreed to renew the MoU that provides Jordan with crude oil for a period of one year, after the Iraqi Council of Ministers approved two weeks ago the recommendation of the Energy Ministerial Council.