11 April 2010
Amman -- The Jordan Natural Resources Authority NRA and the Jordan Oil Shale Energy Company (JOSECO), on Sunday signed a memorandum of understanding under which the latter would carry out oil shale exploration and drilling in southern Jordan.
Under the deal, JOSECO will dig 12 wells and carry out geological, geophysical and chemical studies in the first year to determine an estimated reserve of one billion tons of oil shale on a 51-square-kilometer plot of land in Bayer area.
In the second year, the company will carry out engineering, environmental and feasibility studies on the use of advanced Russian technology and report to the NRA.
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Khaled Irani, said after he inked the accord with JOSECO Board Chairman, Majed Khalifa, that the deal followed lengthy studies and negotiations with the government.
Khalifa said that his company had signed in 2009 key agreements with the Pioneer Company; a joint Russian-Saudi firm to build and operate a retorting system of oil shale called UTT-3000 to exploit oil shale and extract petroleum by using the surface mining technique.
He added that the UTT-3000 system uses a dry distillation technique which doesn't consume large amounts of water during the distillation process.
Khalifa noted that the technology would set the cost of a barrel of oil extracted from oil shale between $25 and $30.
The accord comes as part of the Kingdom's efforts to reduce dependence on imported energy through developing an oil shale industry in Jordan and the region.
Last year, the government sealed two agreements with Royal Dutch Shell Oil and the Estonian company, Eesti Energia, to tap the Kingdom's deep reserves of oil shale.
The NRA estimates the Kingdom has 40 billion tones of oil shale deposits in various areas at various depths.
Amman -- The Jordan Natural Resources Authority NRA and the Jordan Oil Shale Energy Company (JOSECO), on Sunday signed a memorandum of understanding under which the latter would carry out oil shale exploration and drilling in southern Jordan.
Under the deal, JOSECO will dig 12 wells and carry out geological, geophysical and chemical studies in the first year to determine an estimated reserve of one billion tons of oil shale on a 51-square-kilometer plot of land in Bayer area.
In the second year, the company will carry out engineering, environmental and feasibility studies on the use of advanced Russian technology and report to the NRA.
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Khaled Irani, said after he inked the accord with JOSECO Board Chairman, Majed Khalifa, that the deal followed lengthy studies and negotiations with the government.
Khalifa said that his company had signed in 2009 key agreements with the Pioneer Company; a joint Russian-Saudi firm to build and operate a retorting system of oil shale called UTT-3000 to exploit oil shale and extract petroleum by using the surface mining technique.
He added that the UTT-3000 system uses a dry distillation technique which doesn't consume large amounts of water during the distillation process.
Khalifa noted that the technology would set the cost of a barrel of oil extracted from oil shale between $25 and $30.
The accord comes as part of the Kingdom's efforts to reduce dependence on imported energy through developing an oil shale industry in Jordan and the region.
Last year, the government sealed two agreements with Royal Dutch Shell Oil and the Estonian company, Eesti Energia, to tap the Kingdom's deep reserves of oil shale.
The NRA estimates the Kingdom has 40 billion tones of oil shale deposits in various areas at various depths.
© Jordan News Agency - Petra 2010
