Today, Sunday, Jordan’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Saleh Al-Kharabsheh, stated that the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’s imports of Iraqi oil amounted to about 5 million barrels from May 4, 2023, to June 30, 2024.
These were transported from the modern Kirkuk storage site in Iraq to the Zarqa Petroleum Refinery in Jordan via Iraqi and Jordanian tankers.
Al-Kharabsheh explained that the import of Iraqi crude oil is carried out by the memorandum of understanding signed between the government of Jordan and the government of the Republic of Iraq on May 4, 2023.
Under this agreement, Jordan purchases Iraqi crude oil (Kirkuk crude) at a rate based on the monthly Brent crude oil minus $16 per barrel to cover quality differentials and transportation costs, meeting 7% of Jordan’s crude oil needs.
Al-Kharabsheh further indicated that discussions have been held with the Iraqi side to increase the quantities of Iraqi oil exported to Jordan, leading to a mutual agreement to increase the export of Iraqi crude oil from 10,000 barrels per day to 15,000 barrels per day starting from August 2023, under the same contractual terms outlined in the memorandum of understanding.
All necessary technical and logistical arrangements have been made to transport these quantities from the oil loading site at the modern Kirkuk facility in Iraq to the Zarqa Petroleum Refinery in Jordan, increasing the monthly quantity of Iraqi crude oil exported to Jordan to about 450,000 barrels, up from 300,000 barrels, constituting about 10% of Jordan’s crude oil needs.
According to Al-Kharabsheh, the memorandum of understanding has been extended for an additional 3 months under the same contractual terms, from the expiration date of May 4, 2024, to August 4, 2024, to transport the remaining and undelivered quantities specified in the memorandum of understanding. The Iraqi side has been approached to renew the memorandum of understanding between the two brotherly countries.
In the same context, the Director of Oil and Natural Gas at the Ministry, Engineer Iman Awad, stated that the Ministry is currently following up with the Iraqi side to sign a new memorandum of understanding between the two parties.
