AMMAN — The
National Petroleum Company (NPC) has set its
sights on an ambitious target — ramping up the natural gas production in the
Risha Field in eastern Jordan to 200 million cubic feet per day through
continuous upgrades from 2024 to 2030.
اضافة اعلان
Output from the eastern field remained around 50 million
cubic feet per day during 2020 to 2023, according to the Jordan News Agency,
Petra.
Data from the
Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources indicated that in 2021, the average daily consumption of gas in industries was
24 million cubic feet per day, whereas the average daily consumption for
electric power generation was 340 million cubic feet per day. This accounted
for 73 percent of the total.
Decline in average sold dailyThe NPC annual report in 2022 revealed a decline in average
daily production quantities of gas sold to 14.7 million cubic feet per day, a
drop from the previous year of 17.8 million cubic feet per day. However, the
production capacity surged to 30 million cubic feet per day by the end of 2022.
The NPC linked the drop in production quantities to the
shutdown of gas turbines in the Risha Field for a 65 day stretch in 2022 from
October 17, 2022 to December 21, 2022.
The cause for the shutdown was due to the government’s
decision to transfer ownership of the turbines form the
Central Electricity Generating Company to the
Samra Electric Power Company.
In 2022, the gas sold dropped to 5.382 billion cubic feet,
down 17.5 percent from the 6.526 billion cubic feet in 2021, due to the
shutdown. This led to a dip in the company's gas sales revenue to around JD12
million, an 8.2 percent decline of around JD1 million from the previous year.
Gross income decrease NPC's gross income for 2022 amounted to around JD4.2 million, representing a
37.6 percent decrease from the JD6.7 million reported in 2021.
The net profit, after the provision for income tax in 2022 and tax settlements
for previous years, was JD2.8 million, or JD0.191 per share of net profit.
Equity saw a boost to JD37.2 million by the end of 2022, an
8.3 percent increase from JD34.4 million in 2021. Furthermore, the total assets
rose by 9.8 percent, from JD43 million in 2021 to JD47.2 million by year-end
2022.
HistoryThe
Risha Gas Field, located in northeastern Jordan
approximately 370km from Amman, was discovered in 1985 and began production in
1989. The field is currently operated by the NPC, which holds a concession
agreement with the government.
At of the end of 2020, 53 wells had been drilled with an
average production capacity of 27 million cubic feet per day, and the gas is
used to generate electricity on site. The cumulative production from 1989 to
2019 reached approximately 8.223 billion cubic feet.
Established in 1995, the NPC is a public shareholding company in which the
Jordanian government's investment management company holds a 99.9 percent
stake. The company is engaged in oil and gas exploration across the Kingdom.
Under the Risha Concession Agreement, signed in 1996, and valid for 50 years
with the possibility of extension, NPC has the right to explore and produce oil
within the concession area, as well as undertake related operations.
This includes, exploration and development of oil and
natural gas, production, marketing, and transportation of gas and oil extracted
in the Kingdom.
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