Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06AMMAN7668
2006-10-09 09:05:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Amman
Cable title:
IRAQI OIL SHIPMENTS TO JORDAN: NOTHING MOVING YET
how-toVZCZCXRO3460 PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK DE RUEHAM #7668 2820905 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 090905Z OCT 06 FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4674 INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 007668
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
PASS DEPT. OF ENERGY/INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/05/2021
TAGS: ENRG EPET PGOV JO IZ
SUBJECT: IRAQI OIL SHIPMENTS TO JORDAN: NOTHING MOVING YET
REF: AMMAN 5987
Classified By: CDA Daniel Rubinstein, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).
C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 007668
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
PASS DEPT. OF ENERGY/INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/05/2021
TAGS: ENRG EPET PGOV JO IZ
SUBJECT: IRAQI OIL SHIPMENTS TO JORDAN: NOTHING MOVING YET
REF: AMMAN 5987
Classified By: CDA Daniel Rubinstein, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).
1. (C) Jordan's Energy Minister Azmi Khreisat told Ecouns
October 4 that no Iraqi oil has yet been shipped to Jordan as
provided for under a bilateral deal signed in August to
provide cash-strapped Jordan with oil at concessionary prices
for refining in the state-owned oil refinery north of Amman.
Khreisat said that everything is in order on the Jordanian
side. The Iraq-Jordan Land Transport Company is ready to
ship, with trucks already waiting in Iraq to load the crude.
2. (C) Khreisat said he had spoken the day before with Iraqi
Oil Minister Shahristani who told him he would look into the
delay. Khreisat surmised that the hold-up was caused by
"some people within SOMO" resisting starting the shipments.
Jordan has offered to help expand the capacity of the loading
stations to be used but has heard no response from SOMO as of
yet.
3. (C) The Iraq-Jordan Land Transport Company will truck the
crude for the first three months of the agreement.
Afterwards, Jordan's Energy Minister will let the business
out to tender. Khreisat added that, unlike originally
reported, the final deal could reach 50,000 barrels/day, half
of all of Jordan's oil needs. Shipment costs, however, will
be three to four times the cost of trucking the crude from
Aqaba, due to the much higher security costs and the need to
pay protection money to the tribes of Al-Anbar Governorate.
4. (C) COMMENT: Khreisat is clearly feeling some pressure
that this much-touted deal has so far come to nothing. He
implied he was constantly being asked, "Where's the Iraqi
oil?" A source at the trucking company says security costs
may actually make the deal uneconomical and that there are
still political issues within Iraq to be worked out. As the
GoJ gradually ends its subsidies for domestic fule
consumption, each hike in prices generates broad popular
resentment. The Bakhit government trumpeted the August deal
as a great victory, though informed observers were skeptical
that Iraq, under current conditions, would be able to come
through with the oil. Though signed in August, the
Iraq-Jordan oil shipment arrangement may not quite be a done
deal.
RUBINSTEIN
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
PASS DEPT. OF ENERGY/INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/05/2021
TAGS: ENRG EPET PGOV JO IZ
SUBJECT: IRAQI OIL SHIPMENTS TO JORDAN: NOTHING MOVING YET
REF: AMMAN 5987
Classified By: CDA Daniel Rubinstein, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).
1. (C) Jordan's Energy Minister Azmi Khreisat told Ecouns
October 4 that no Iraqi oil has yet been shipped to Jordan as
provided for under a bilateral deal signed in August to
provide cash-strapped Jordan with oil at concessionary prices
for refining in the state-owned oil refinery north of Amman.
Khreisat said that everything is in order on the Jordanian
side. The Iraq-Jordan Land Transport Company is ready to
ship, with trucks already waiting in Iraq to load the crude.
2. (C) Khreisat said he had spoken the day before with Iraqi
Oil Minister Shahristani who told him he would look into the
delay. Khreisat surmised that the hold-up was caused by
"some people within SOMO" resisting starting the shipments.
Jordan has offered to help expand the capacity of the loading
stations to be used but has heard no response from SOMO as of
yet.
3. (C) The Iraq-Jordan Land Transport Company will truck the
crude for the first three months of the agreement.
Afterwards, Jordan's Energy Minister will let the business
out to tender. Khreisat added that, unlike originally
reported, the final deal could reach 50,000 barrels/day, half
of all of Jordan's oil needs. Shipment costs, however, will
be three to four times the cost of trucking the crude from
Aqaba, due to the much higher security costs and the need to
pay protection money to the tribes of Al-Anbar Governorate.
4. (C) COMMENT: Khreisat is clearly feeling some pressure
that this much-touted deal has so far come to nothing. He
implied he was constantly being asked, "Where's the Iraqi
oil?" A source at the trucking company says security costs
may actually make the deal uneconomical and that there are
still political issues within Iraq to be worked out. As the
GoJ gradually ends its subsidies for domestic fule
consumption, each hike in prices generates broad popular
resentment. The Bakhit government trumpeted the August deal
as a great victory, though informed observers were skeptical
that Iraq, under current conditions, would be able to come
through with the oil. Though signed in August, the
Iraq-Jordan oil shipment arrangement may not quite be a done
deal.
RUBINSTEIN