Jordan’s Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources (MEMR) earlier this month launched a tender for supply of LNG to the country.
Importing LNG will meet increased demand for electric power generation fuel and, when required, address shortfalls and disruption in the supply of pipeline gas from Egypt, said a MEMR statement. In 2011-12, civil unrest in Egypt led to several attacks on the 165-mile southbound leg of the Arab Gas Pipeline that supplies gas to Jordan (OGJ Online, Oct. 4, 2008).
The planned floating LNG import terminal at Aqaba, at the top of the Gulf of Aqaba, will have an initial baseload sendout capacity of 150 MMcfd; MEMR expects it to begin operating in late 2014.
Issue of this tender, MEMR said, is the final step in implementation of Jordan’s LNG import strategy.
In late February, the ministry selected Golar LNG Ltd. to supply the floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU). The vessel will have storage capacity of 160,000 cu m of LNG and an ultimate sendout of 490 MMcfd. MEMR expects to sign a time-charter party agreement next month.
In mid-January, Aqaba Development Corp. issued a request for proposals for design and construction of required infrastructure at Aqaba. Bids are due on Apr. 23.
And, in December 2012, the ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with the operator of the 242-mile Jordanian gas transmission pipeline, also part of the Arab Gas Pipeline. An agreement covering transportation of regasified LNG from the import terminal to Jordan’s power plants is being negotiated and the ministry expects it will be signed “in the near future.”
The 745-mile Arab Gas Pipeline was installed between 2002 and 2008 to bring gas from Arish south, around the tip of Israel then back north, meeting gas demand in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.
Contact Warren R. True at [email protected].
