In a press release the Ministry of Petroleum announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on oil & gas sector cooperation between the EGAS and the Jordanian-Egyptian FAJR Company. This was on 18th March 2015 at the conclusion of a meeting between Petroleum Minister Sherif Ismail and his Jordanian counterpart, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Ibrahim Saif in his first visit to Cairo, shortly after taking office. The MoU was signed to tap into the infrastructure and facilities available in the two countries, extending oil and gas pipelines from Jordan to Iraq and Egypt to utilize Iraq’s excess stock of crude oil.
During the meeting Sherif Ismail pointed out that Egypt was keen to promote bilateral oil and gas sector cooperation and the ministers discussed the significance of developing cooperation between Egypt, Jordan and Iraq in terms of expanding Iraq’s gas pipelines. He also said that Egypt needed to diversify its energy sources and that Iraq had tremendous production potential in both natural gas and crude oil and how the momentum from special relations between the three countries should be utilized in this regard. He added that a joint working group would be established to put in place a comprehensive vision for Egyptian-Jordanian cooperation in Iraq.
EGAS Chairman Khaled Abdel Badie and Jordanian-Egyptian FAJR Company Chairman Foad Rashad participated in the discussions, alongside the General Manager of National Electric Power Company Abdel-Fattah Al-Daradkeh and Vice Ambassador Kais Beshr from Jordan.
The discussions also included an agreement for cooperation in the refining sector whereby the Egyptian company ENPPI would conduct a study to evaluate Jordan’s Al-Zarka Refinery. This will run alongside cooperation in employee training, using Egyptian training centers. For his part the Jordanian minister reiterated the significance of the regional cooperation dossier and how his country should make the best of the long experience Egyptian companies had in conducting petroleum projects.
