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Posted on 04/10/2003 3:19:34 PM PDT by Thinkin' Gal
AMMAN (JT) — The government categorically denied on Wednesday a news report claiming that officials from Jordan and Israel will meet to discuss the possibility of restarting an old oil pipeline linking oil-rich Iraq with the Israeli port of Haifa on the Mediterranean via Jordan.
Minister of State for Political Affairs and Minister of Information Mohammad Adwan was quoted by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, as saying the report was “fabricated.”
“No contacts have been made with anyone regarding such an issue,” Adwan, who is also the government spokesperson, told Petra.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Marwan Muasher was also quoted by the Doha-based Al Jazeera television station refuting that the Jordanian government had contacts with Israel over the possible reopening of the pipeline.
In addition, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Mohammad Batayneh told The Jordan Times yesterday that the report was “groundless and totally untrue.”
“The pipeline no longer exists in the Jordanian territories,” Batayneh said.
Reuters yesterday quoted an Israeli national infrastructure ministry source as saying that both Jordan and Israel will hold meetings to study the prospects of restarting the oil pipeline, known also as IPC, which was shut down 55 years ago.
The pipeline used to carry oil from the northern Iraqi oil pumping stations in Mosul and Kirkuk to the Israeli port of Haifa.
The flow of Iraqi oil to Haifa was suspended in 1948 with the end of the British mandate and the creation of the state of Israel on Palestinian land.
Reuters quoted the sources as saying that restarting the pipeline could reduce Israel's fuel costs by 25 per cent.
Before war broke out, the government was near to reach an agreement with one of three international oil companies to extend a 300-kilometre oil pipeline linking the country's refinery with the Kingdom's eastern borders with Iraq.
An official, who asked to remain unnamed, said the country is keen to continue its plan to extend the pipeline, adding that Jordan is waiting for its international consultant to come to the country to select the winning bidder.
At a later stage, plans call for extending the pipeline from the borders to the Iraqi oil pumping stations in Haditha, 260 kilometres northwest of Baghdad.
Thursday, April 10, 2003
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In a related development: Russia has never communist, and the Holocaust has never happened.
Articles don't mention that the pipeline, not used for 50 years, runs through Syria too.
They will have to replace the whole thing
If Israel would save 25% of the fuel costs, Jordan could always jack up the price by a heft margin. Even if Israel only saved 5% of its fuel costs, it would definitely go for it, and Jordan would pocket four times as much.
Wed Apr 9, 4:27 AM ET
TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israel and Jordan will hold meetings about the possibility of restarting an oil pipeline from Iraq (news - web sites) to Israel via Jordan that was closed 55 years ago, a National Infrastructure Ministry source said on Wednesday.
The source told Reuters minister Joseph Paritzky will meet Jordanian officials about restarting the pipeline, which sent Iraqi oil from Mosul to the northern Israeli port of Haifa during the British mandate period, on the assumption a pro-Western government will be set up following the U.S.-led war.
"Jordan contacted the prime minister's office who asked the minister (Paritzky) to meet with the Jordanian officials," the source told Reuters. "We know the section of the pipeline here is in excellent condition but we want to know what the Jordanian part is like and whether it can be restarted easily."
The source said Paritzky believes restarting the pipeline could reduce Israel's fuel costs by 25 percent and turn Haifa into "the Rotterdam of the Middle East."
The flow of Iraqi oil to Haifa stopped in 1948 with the end of the British mandate and the Israeli War of Independence that followed and the establishment of Israel, the source said.
"It's too soon to estimate the chances of the pipeline restarting or its financial impact for Israel although it would obviously be substantial," the source said. "It depends on what kind of government takes office in Iraq.
"The Jordanians are optimistic though and the minister is very keen to try and flesh out a plan for restarting the oil flow," the source said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030409/wl_nm/energy_israel_jordan_dc_1
Articles don't mention that the pipeline, not used for 50 years, runs through Syria too.
This doesn't appear to be the case. I've got a couple of big fold-out maps, and this pipeline goes through the center of the Jordan-Iraq border. It continues along the same path, making a jog to the northwest, south of where the Jordanian border with Syria makes a similar jog. It then crosses the Israeli border about 7 miles south of the Sea of Galilee, running barely south of Nazareth to Haifa.
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