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Crude oil for Jordan despite blocked oil agreement
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Translated by IRAQdirectory.com - [1/15/2008]
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Iraqi Foreign Minister, Hoshyar Zebari, confirmed that his country is committed to supply Jordan with crude oil at preferential prices despite the blocked oil agreement and the irregular deliveries of oil.
Zebari said in a press conference at the headquarters of the Iraqi Embassy in Amman, "We discussed with Jordanian officials ways of activating the convention of supplying Jordan with crude oil, which was hindered for technical reasons mostly concerning mechanisms of transport and delivery. We agreed that Iraq is committed to this convention ... and that the oil agreement is still valid despite the incomplete implementation of this agreement during the past year."
He continued, "We assured them that we are committed to our obligations and that we are ready to accept any ideas about accelerating the process of reviewing the transporting company or the method of delivery." He pointed out that "there is a security improvement on the road (in western Iraq) and the conditions have become more appropriate for the transfer of oil."
Iraq and Jordan had signed in Baghdad in August 2006 a convention that include supplying Jordan with 10-30% of its oil needs which amount to about one hundred thousand barrels per day. However, this agreement was blocked and only a limited number of shipments of Iraqi oil had reached Jordan by tankers, due to serious security difficulties on the road.
Jordan, which imports most of its crude oil, has increased prices of oil derivatives fourfold since the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Iraq had been providing Jordan with quantities of oil at preferential prices and sometimes for free during the era of former President Saddam Hussein.
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