Agence France-Presse – 30 May, 2008
www.gulfinthemedia.com/index.php?id=405887&news_type=Economy&lang=en
Iraq is to review a 2006 agreement to sell discounted oil to Jordan amid
soaring world prices, visiting Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi said on
Thursday.
“The Iraqi government seeks to reconsider the agreement with Jordan and then
activate it and push it in the right direction to benefit the two
countries,” Hashemi told a meeting of Jordanian businessmen in the capital
Amman.
Iraq agreed in August 2006 to provide its import-dependent neighbour with
between 10 and 30 percent of its daily oil needs of around 100,000 barrels
at a preferential price starting from September of that year.
But deliveries by road of the discounted oil began only at the end of
September 2007, with officials blaming the delay on technical and security
problems.
“Iraq is aware of the importance of the oil issue for Jordan, but the deal
and the preferential prices should be re-examined after international prices
rose,” Hashemi said.
The price of oil on international markets remained above 130 dollars on
Thursday.
But a Jordanian official official told AFP that the kingdom was paying Iraq
18 dollars a barrel less than the August 2006 price for its discounted
deliveries. Back then oil was trading at around the 75 dollar mark on world
markets.
Hashemi said the Iraqi government was keen to tackle the problems facing oil
deliveries to Jordan.
“We want to know the reasons… are they related to bureaucracy, security,
export issues or other problems?” said the Iraqi vice president, who is on a
regional tour.
Jordan was entirely dependent on Iraq for its oil imports before the 2003
overthrow of Saddam Hussein, importing 5.5 million tonnes a year by road,
half of it free of charge and the rest at preferential rates.
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