The Iraqi cabinet has endorsed a framework agreement to build a pipeline to carry crude oil from the southern Port of Basra to the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Saleh Kharabsheh announced Monday.
He said in a press statement that Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar informed him that the Council of Ministers had given the final approval to the agreement, and agreed with his Iraqi counterpart to give technical and legal teams the green light to finalize procedures for signature.
During a telephone call, the ministers agreed to build on the outcomes of the fourth Jordanian-Egyptian-Iraqi tripartite summit, which was held in June in Baghdad, that brought together His Majesty King Abdullah II, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhemi and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.
The 1,665-KM Basra-to-Aqaba pipeline, which will be constructed at a cost of 7 to 9 billion US dollars, according to Iraqi estimates, to ship about 1 million barrels of Iraqi crude per day for export to foreign markers via Aqaba Port.
The pipeline project is part of efforts to enhance Jordanian-Iraqi ties and expand cooperation through finding a new conduit for Iraqi oil exports that also grants Jordan the right to buy 150,000 barrels of Iraqi crude per day, which will be refined in the oil refinery in Zarqa.
Source: Jordan News Agency