Jordan Approves Oil Shale Extraction Agreement with British Firm

According to a statement from the UK embassy in Amman, the Jordanian government has given formal approval to an agreement signed in March for British company Jordan Energy and Mining Ltd. subsidiary Karak International Oil to develop Jordan’s oil shale resources.

The agreement allows Karak International Oil, which has already invested $30 million, to use thermal cracking and retorting technology to extract and process oil shale in a 13.5 square mile concession in Lejjun, Karak.

According to Jordan’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources the arrangement is expected to produce 15,000 gallons of oil per day by 2016, within the next five years, with the possibility of reaching 60,000 tons with additional investment, Amman’s Jordan Times reported.

The agreement adds to other projects to exploit Jordan’s oil shale reserves, which prospecting has determined extend over 60 per cent of the country with reserves estimated to be up to 40 billion tons. Last Year Jordan signed a 44-year production sharing agreement with Estonian firm Eesti Energia to produce up to 35,000 barrels of oil per day in Jordan’s central provinces. Royal Dutch Shell is also working in Jordan on the exploratory phase of a multibillion dollar operation to apply its patented In-situ Conversion Process in  Jordan’s eastern and northern regions, where the oil shale reserves are deep and  unable to be mined through conventional methods.

By. Charles Kennedy, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com