AMMAN — Jordan, compared
with its oil-rich neighbor Saudi Arabia, is typically associated with a scarcity
of natural resources. But petroleum geologist and drilling expert Zuhair
Sadiq begs to differ.
اضافة اعلان
In an interview with
Jordan
News, Sadiq said that the Kingdom is in fact “rich in natural resources, including
oil, gas, oil shale, and different types of minerals.” According to the
geologist, Jordan has enough natural resources to “cover local demand, export,
cover government debt, and increase employment.” If the Kingdom were to reach
maximum oil production, it could be enjoying “up to 1 million barrels a day,” he
said.
However, Sadiq’s position is not
uncontroversial. In a recent interview with
Jordan News, economist and
energy-focused writer Lahab Atallah denounced Sadiq’s claim that Jordan is a
mass oil producer in the making. “It is impossible that Jordan can produce
nearly as many barrels a day as Qatar (the world’s 14th biggest oil
exporter),” he said. “Jordan is simply not an oil-rich country.”
Jordan News looked into some
of Jordan’s locations where oil has been identified or speculated.
Golan Heights
In 2015, Afek Oil & Gas, a
subsidiary of American company
Genie Energy, discovered oil reserves in the
Golan Heights. The rocky layer in which the reservoir was discovered measures
350m in thickness. According to Sadiq, this is vastly thicker than average rock
strata of 20-30 meters, meaning it is “up to 10 times thicker than those found
in Saudi Arabia,” the world’s second biggest oil exporter. This, in Sadiq’s
view, is a major indication of substantial oil reserves in one of Jordan’s
eight designated oil exploration areas: the Northern Heights, which lies just
south of the Golan Heights, mostly within the Kingdom’s Irbid governorate.
The Dead Sea
There are signs of oil in another
oil exploration area: the Dead Sea. According to Sadiq, a total organic carbon
(
TOC) level of 0.5 percent to 5 percent is enough to produce oil in commercial
quantities. “In the Dead Sea, strata layers consist of 10 percent TOC,” he said.
This reflects the potential that many under-researched exploration locations hold
in terms of productive capacity, or Jordan’s maximum ability to produce oil.
Hamzeh
Reservoir
Earlier this week, after the
discovery of reasonable oil quantities, the Prime Ministry of Jordan announced
plans to ramp up oil production wells from 5 to 2000 barrels of crude oil per
day in the Kingdom’s Hamzeh Reservoir. According to Sadiq, the reservoir consists
of 17 wells. Sadiq referred to this newfound discovery as proof of the
potential Jordan holds on both “a regional and global” scale when it comes to
oil production. This increase in productivity means 52 thousand more barrels may
be sent to the National Oil Refinery and 1.5 percent of national demand may be met.
Sadiq accredited this discovery to
the arrival of Minister Hala Zawati, who “played a key role” in amplifying oil
productivity through her “belief in Hamzeh Reservoir’s research-backed
potential.” Atallah supported Sadiq’s accreditation of Minister Zawati,
referring to her work at the Ministry as “very impressive.”
The future of
energy in Jordan
When it comes to oil shale
reserves, Jordan takes the lead globally. The problem, however, lies in the
unaffordability of oil shale extraction, according to Sadiq. It would cost
“anywhere from 30 to 40 million US Dollars,” he says. According to Lahab
Atallah, oil shale extraction is “uneconomical,” meaning extraction costs may outweigh
profitability, making its subsistence underground the more cost-effective
choice in the eyes of the debt-enduring Jordanian government.
Atallah did, however, voice his
optimism about Jordan’s involvement in renewable energy in the form of wind and
solar. He envisions a third of energy consumed in Jordan being from renewable
sources.
When it comes to other materials
in Jordan, such as crude oil and gas, questions remain unanswered. Just 3km south
of the Jordanian border, an Aramco site holds 200 million cubic feet of gas.
“It’s unlikely that such reserves cease to exist at the border,” according to Sadiq.
“They likely extend to the Jordanian side,” he said.
Sadiq also commented on shell
corporations’ interest in Jordan. While shell corporations, or corporations
without active business operations, aren’t necessarily illegal, they are often
used illegitimately, particularly to disguise ownership from law enforcement.
For example, Korea Global Energy, a shell company registered in the renowned
shell-hosting British Virgin Islands, was interested in digging in Jordan,
according to Sadiq.
Similarly, Canadian shell company
Ammonite, which “doesn’t even have an office in Amman” and has recently shut
down, made little progress in easing oil shale extraction despite its pledge to
do so, according to Sadiq.
The inefficient interest in
Jordanian natural resource reserves is nothing specific to shell companies,
however.
British Petroleum failed to
capitalize on the potential of gas extraction at the Al-Reeshah gas exploration
site, situated in eastern Jordan, during its stay in the country from 2009 to
2014, said Sadiq. Despite their humble machinery and limited experience,” local
efforts that interjected in light of BP’s exit managed to extract 20 million
cubic feet of gas — the same area BP claimed lacks sufficient quantities of
gas. This raises questions about BP’s ability — or willingness — to extract gas during its stay in the Al-Reeshah exploration zone. BP’s failure in extracting
gas is especially peculiar when considering that shortly after its exit, Jordan
signed a deal to buy gas from Israel on the basis that Al-Reeshah lacks gas
reserves.
The Irish company Petroleum
Resources conducted a study in Jordan prior to its bankruptcy-induced exit, and
it estimates the presence of 0.9 to 6.5 billion barrels of oil in the East
Safawi exploration site, further solidifying Sadiq’s view that, should it
exist, the abundance of oil, gas, and oil shale has the potential to oil the
wheels of Jordan’s stagnating economy.
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