Mr Hussain al-Shahristani oil minister Iraq said that construction of a pipeline to Jordan was currently not feasible because the main pipeline between Kirkuk and Banias on the Mediterranean was inoperative.

Mr Al-Shahristani said that “Any pipeline to Jordan should be a branch of the main facility between Kirkuk and Banias, which is now damaged and we are trying to repair.”

He was reacting to local reports that Mr Nader Dahabi PM of Jordan was planning to visit Iraq shortly to discuss a number of issues, foremost the construction of a pipeline that Amman hopes will carry crude oil from Iraq to Jordan’s sole refinery at Zarqa, 30 kilometers east of the capital.

Mr Al-Shahristani said that the Iraqi government was committed to an agreement signed three years ago with Jordan under which Baghdad pledged to supply the Hashemite kingdom with 10,000 barrels of oil per day at preferential prices, to be increased later to 30,000 barrels per day.

Iraq, which was the main supplier of crude oil to Jordan during the previous regime of Saddam Hussein, has been unable to honour the new agreement with Amman due to lack of security.

(Sourced from Khaleej Times)