Iraq has almost completed the formalities for building a pipeline to transport crude oil to Jordan and the contract will be signed shortly, a local newspaper reported.
Iraq’s Oil Ministry has obtained cabinet approval for the project, which is expected to cost approximately $18 billion, Arabic daily Al-Mada said, quoting Oil Ministry spokesman Assim Jihad.
"There have been marathon negotiations with more than one party for this project and the ministry has now obtained cabinet approval and will sign the contract with Jordan and the investing company in the near future," Jihad said.
He said details of the project, which has been blocked by internal hostilities, would be revealed after the contract is finalised.
The newspaper said the project involves the construction of 1,700-km pipeline to transport more than one million barrels per day of crude to the Southern Jordanian port of Aqaba. The 300-km Iraqi part of the pipeline would start in the Southern port of Basra and end in the Western town of Haditha.
The project, intended to boost Iraq's crude exports, was blocked by Daesh’s seizure of areas in Western Iraq through which the pipeline will pass.
Zawya
7 June
