Iraq to supply oil to Jordan

Iraq and Jordan recently have signed an oil agreement under which Iraq will supply Jordan this year with 4.8 mm tonnes of crude oil and by-products.
The agreement was signed by Iraq's Oil Ministry Under-secretary Taha Hmud Musa and Jordan's energy under-secretary Ahmed al-Basheer.
Musa said: "This agreement includes Iraq's commitment to provide Jordan with all its needs of crude oil and its derivatives totalling 4.8 mm tonnes."
He said the deal, under which sanctions-hit Iraq supplies Jordan with oil at concessionary rates in return for Jordanian food and medicine, effectively included a grant to Jordan of up to $ 250 mm.

Earlier, Basheer told that Jordan, dependent on Iraq for its oil needs, wanted to increase its oil purchases from Baghdad by 3 % from last year's 4.8 mm tonnes.
He said Jordan's needs of refined products would be 1 mm tonnes and the rest would be crude oil.
In the past, Iraq has supplied some of the oil at market prices and the rest at concessionary rates, all paid for with Jordanian food and medical exports.
Jordanian Energy Minister Hani al-Mulqi had been scheduled to arrive in Baghdad soon to sign the agreement with Iraq, but Basheer said his visit was called off because of a crisis over natural gas shortages in Jordan.
Since the 1991 Gulf War over Kuwait -- in which Amman sympathised with Baghdad -- Iraq has been exporting around 75,000 bpd to Jordan.

In previous years, when oil prices were higher, Iraq got in return around $ 300 mm to $ 350 mm worth of food and medicine from Jordanian firms.
Food and medical imports -- if approval is granted by the United Nations Sanctions Committee on Iraq -- are not covered by the sweeping UN sanctions imposed for Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The UN Sanctions Committee, however, does not have to rule on Iraqi oil supplies to Jordan, which have been quietly allowed to continue.