Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla discussed with Jordanian Minister of Investment Khairy Amr increasing cooperation in carrying out natural gas delivery projects inside Jordan with Egyptian expertise through specialised petroleum sector companies.

El-Molla reviewed Egyptian experiences in delivering natural gas to homes and their success in covering more than 13.5m housing units with natural gas after doubling the delivery rate to 1.2m housing units annually during the last four years.

This is besides qualified companies and trained cadres and the availability of technical and engineering capabilities, which could be supportive for Jordan’s tendency to expand the use of natural gas in homes and complete the supply of various industries after a good study and overcoming challenges in the project.

For his part, Amr stressed the importance of Egypt’s participation with its long experience in carrying out these projects in Jordan, which would contribute significantly to their success by extending gas networks and connecting them in various Jordanian cities.

He also pointed out that a technical and economic study is currently underway by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for gas delivery projects in Jordan on the basis of which the best vision for implementation will be determined.

El-Molla then highlighted the close bilateral relations between Egypt and Jordan in the field of energy stressing that Egypt is fully prepared to participate in projects to deliver natural gas to homes in Jordanian cities and that Egyptian petroleum sector companies operating in Jordan — led by Fajr Egypt — have achieved success stories over two decades so far.

Furthermore, the two ministers agreed to send a team of Egyptian natural gas delivery companies to Jordan to cooperate and review capabilities and learn about project details.

The Jordanian minister stressed that projects to deliver natural gas to Jordanian homes and completely supplying up to 95% of factories in Jordan with gas will have a positive economic return and will contribute to reducing the import of butane.