Amman, The Lower House Energy and Mineral Resources Committee approved a bill to revoke the law ratifying the oil shale concession agreement signed by Jordanian government, represented by the Natural Resources Authority (NRA) and Jordan Oil Shale Company B.V (JOSCO) for 2022.
This announcement came during a meeting held by the committee on Wednesday, chaired by MP Talal Ensour, and in the presence of Ministers of Energy and Mineral Resources, Saleh Kharabsheh, State for Legal Affairs, Nancy Namrouqa.
Ensour said Jordan’s current economic conditions require knowing all details related to the agreements inked by government with companies investing in the Kingdom’s energy sector.
For his part, Kharabsheh said the government did not incur any financial obligations as a result of revoking oil shale concession agreement, adding that Jordan Oil Shale Company B.V (JOSCO) “has spent about JD280 million, while it has drilled 250 wells.”
The company concluded that the project, which is pilot and is based on heating oil shale at depths of hundreds of meters to turn it into oil, is “useless,” he said.
The company also concluded that the sulfur and carbon content in Jordanian oil shale is “high,” and thus concluded that investment in the project is “infeasible,” he pointed out.
In light of the expiration of the notice period, the concession agreement is deemed terminated by law, given that B.V (JOSCO) ended oil shale concession agreement signed with the government, he noted.
Articles (4/8) and (2) of the agreement granted the company the power to terminate the concession agreement upon expiration of 12 months from end of evaluation period and prior to the first pilot phase, according to a notice sent by the company to the government for a 90-day period, he said.
From the beginning, talk was about a pilot project that did not impose financial obligations on the government, he noted, adding that Jordan benefited from the equipment donated by the company at the end of the project.
Stressing the energy ministry’s interest in Jordan’s mining sector, he noted since beginning of 2022, it signed 7 memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore for a number of minerals and is in the process of inking more agreements.
Source: Jordan News Agency