AMMAN — The
adjudication in the “grave deception” case filed by the
National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) against the Attarat Power Company is yet to be reached, a NEPCO
source who did not want to be identified told
Jordan News, but legal and energy
experts say it is a lost case.
اضافة اعلان
NEPCO had
requested arbitration from the
International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris
in the case concerning the power purchase agreement reached by the two
entities. Under the agreement, Attarat is the first power-generating company
that uses oil shale to produce electricity. Jordan is one of the top five
countries in oil shale reserves globally, estimated at 70 billion tonnes.
The arbitration
request sought to reach a ruling on the existence and value of grave deception
in the set electrical tariff agreed upon by the two companies, and arrive at a
decision on NEPCO’s right to terminate the contract unless the alleged “deception”
is removed.
The agreement was
signed during prime minister Abdullah Ensour’s tenure, in 2014, at an estimated
cost of $2.1 billion; it stipulated a 470-megawatt capacity providing up to 15
percent of the Kingdom’s electricity requirements.
The project is
owned by
Attarat Power Company, a coalition of three companies from China,
Malaysia, and Estonia. Construction of the project’s infrastructure began in
mid-2017.
Attorney at law
and partner at Nabulsi and Associates Zaid Nabulsi told
Jordan News that “NEPCO
has no legal basis for their case since the government and NEPCO were aware of
and agreed to the set prices”.
“Legally, the
government cannot claim grave deception because the Attarat Power Company did
not cheat anyone. Grave deception is when someone is blindsided, which was not
the case. The government was aware of the prices and agreed to them; it is a
losing case; there was no cheating,” Nabulsi said.
Expert and
economic analyst for oil and energy Hashem Akel told
Jordan News that the
electricity tariff NEPCO has agreed to was hefty at 110 fils per kilowatt, and
that, instead of filing a legal case at ICC in Paris, “the government should
have adopted a friendlier approach and negotiated to reach a middle ground”.
Economist and
specialist in oil and energy affairs Amer Shobaki told
Jordan News that the
case was filed at ICC in Paris because of the high value of the contract, which
stands at $2.1 billion.
“I do not expect
to have any result (from the arbitration) since the government signed and agreed
to the prices included in the contracts,” Shobaki said.
He added that in
view of the energy crisis in the world, the government should take advantage of
Jordan’s oil shale reserves that would secure Jordan’s energy needs.
“Jordan should
rely completely on its oil shale reserves to produce electricity, besides using
renewable energy. The government should increase the number of power producers
who rely on oil shale, so Jordan does not have to import its energy needs from
Egypt and Israel to produce power, which would help Jordan maintain its foreign
currency reserves and achieve self-sufficiency,” Shobaki stated.
However, a source
at the
Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources told
Jordan News that since Jordan has a surplus of electricity, it does
not need any new projects to produce electricity, not even using oil shale,
which “is still a costly source to use to produce electricity, especially in
comparison to gas prices”.
“There is no point
in using oil shale; it will be more costly to the country than purchasing
energy from foreign countries,” the source said.
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