AMMAN, Jordan - The first shipment of Iraqi crude oil arrived in Jordan Friday after a four-year hiatus following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, an energy ministry spokesman said. Energy Ministry spokesman Maher al-Shawabkeh said eight trucks loaded with Iraqi crude oil arrived at the Iraqi-Jordanian border. “It’s the first batch of an expected 166 tankers, which Iraq is sending to Jordan,” he said.The oil is part of an agreement signed between Jordan and Iraq during a visit by Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit to Baghdad in August 2006.
Before the war started in 2003, Iraq covered all of JordanÂ’s oil needs, delivering a portion for free and the rest at about one-third the world market price because of the neighborsÂ’ close ties and IraqÂ’s history of providing Jordan with inexpensive oil. When the supply was halted at the outset of the war, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates stepped in for a year to provide the cash-strapped kingdom with oil at prices believed to have been below market levels. Saudi Arabia now provides Jordan with funding to help the country pay for its oil needs.
Al-Shawabkeh said the initial shipment will cover 10 percent of JordanÂ’s energy requirements. It will be followed by additional shipments that will provide 30 percent at a later stage, he said. The Iraqi crude came from the northern Kirkuk fields and will be processed in JordanÂ’s Zarqa refinery, 27 kilometers (19 miles) southeast of Amman, al-Shawabkeh said.
The cost of the oil shipment was not made public Friday. But earlier in the week, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Iraq plans to export 10,000 barrels a day by land to Jordan at US$4 less per barrel than the market price. Al-Dabbagh also said the reason the oil was given to Jordan at cheaper prices was because Jordan would be in charge of securing tanker trucks to transport the oil. Al-Shawabkeh said Iraq drivers were transporting the oil to the Karameh border where it was then turned over to Jordanian tankers.