Jordanians really don't want Israel’s gas
Jordan's agreement to buy Israeli natural gas has Jordanians up in arms.
AMMAN, Jordan — Voices opposed to a gas sales and purchase agreement (GSPA) signed in September between Jordan’s National Electric Power Company and the operator of an Israeli gas field got louder March 20 when the Jordanian parliament obtained a copy of the agreement, whose details had been kept secret. Those against the contract are calling on the parliament to reject it. Houston-based Noble Energy holds the concession for developing Israel’s largest offshore gas deposit, the Leviathan natural gas field, 50 miles off the coast of Haifa in the Mediterranean. The agreement, expected to enter into force in 2019, has sparked demonstrations because many Jordanians view it as tantamount to normalization with Israel. According to the GSPA, Jordan will import 300 million cubic feet of gas per day from the Leviathan field for 15 years at a cost of $10 billion.
Noble has a nearly 40% working interest in the field, while Israeli companies hold the rest.
In a related development, Jordanians opposing a gas deal signed in 2014 recently discovered that they had failed to stop the gas from flowing from the Israeli Tamar field to Jordan, as deliveries began in January. “Israel has begun quietly exporting natural gas to Jordan after two Jordanian companies — Arab Potash and Jordan Bromine — were connected to Israel’s national pipeline network,” the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported March 2.
The Jordanian government had been keen to keep the two agreements confidential. Energy Minister Ibrahim Saif described the GSPA as exempt from disclosure under Article 13 of the law guaranteeing the right of access to information. He told Al-Monitor, “Some trade details are difficult to disclose to the public, as they are confidential information concerning the financial interests of the partner.”
