AMMAN -- Iraq will reconsider a 2006 accord on preferential oil supply with Jordan, Jordan Times reported Friday, quoting visiting Iraqi Vice President Tareq Hashemi.
In a Memorandum of Understanding signed in August 2006, Iraq pledged to provide its resources-scarce neighbor with between 10 and 30 percent of its daily oil needs, which officials said currently run at about 100,000 barrels, at a preferential price from September of that year.
The vice president told a meeting of private sector leaders on Thursday that the margin of preferential prices would be adjusted to the global rise in oil prices, which has taken place since the accord was signed.
The price of oil on international markets Thursday remained above 130 dollars.
Hashemi said "Iraq is aware of the importance of the oil issue for Jordan, but the deal and the preferential prices should be re-examined after international prices rose."
He stressed that the Iraqi government is keen to activate the deal to serve the interests of both countries.
Though the agreement said the supply at a preferential price should start from September 2006, deliveries by road of the oil began only at the end of September 2007, with officials blaming security problems.
In a Memorandum of Understanding signed in August 2006, Iraq pledged to provide its resources-scarce neighbor with between 10 and 30 percent of its daily oil needs, which officials said currently run at about 100,000 barrels, at a preferential price from September of that year.
The vice president told a meeting of private sector leaders on Thursday that the margin of preferential prices would be adjusted to the global rise in oil prices, which has taken place since the accord was signed.
The price of oil on international markets Thursday remained above 130 dollars.
Hashemi said "Iraq is aware of the importance of the oil issue for Jordan, but the deal and the preferential prices should be re-examined after international prices rose."
He stressed that the Iraqi government is keen to activate the deal to serve the interests of both countries.
Though the agreement said the supply at a preferential price should start from September 2006, deliveries by road of the oil began only at the end of September 2007, with officials blaming security problems.
