Jordan and Algeria discuss bilateral energy cooperation and prospects for importing liquefied natural gas from the North African nation, Petra News Agency reported. Jordanian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources held talks with Algerian officials from state-run Sonatrach company in mid February. This bilateral initiative comes as part of the Kingdom’s efforts to diversify natural gas supply cost of which is much cheaper compared with other oil derivatives.

Attempts to diversify energy resources come as Jordan’s 2014 energy bill reached as high as 20% of country’s GDP, an official statement read. National Electric Power Company of Jordan (NEPCO) has been importing LNG in recent months via the Al‐Sheikh Sabah LNG terminal at Aqaba, according to Natural Gas Asia.