News

AMMAN --- April 9, 2012 --- The Economic Policy Development Forum held its 8th meeting at Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Business Forum, chaired by HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh in the presence of the Forum’s Executive Committee heads and committees' members.

The Forum issued its first report on energy analysing the main issues and challenges facing the country. In addition, the meeting discussed the work reports of the Economic Relations Development Committee of Dr. Mohammad Saqr, the Productivity Committee of HE Dr. Jawad Al-Anani, the Education Committee of Dr. Isam Za’balawi, and the Transparency Committee of Dr. Hisham Gharaibeh.

During a press conference held by the Energy Committee at the end of the meeting, the report which emphasized the significance of energy on the economic national structure was distributed.

The Energy Committee consists of Mr.Sulaiman Al Hafez, Mr.Samir Murad, Eng. Mohammad Saeed Arafah, Dr. Ahmad Hiasat, Mr.Hasan Abu-Nimah, Mr.Nabil Talhouni, Eng. Wisam Qaqish, and Mr.Hanna Zaghlool.

The committee’s report summarized the main challenges as follows:

• The constant hike in oil prices and its derivatives which exceeded estimates of the Energy Strategy of 2007.

• The tardiness of the successive governments in exploring alternative energy sources internally and externally, a fact that led to the complete and exclusive reliance on Egyptian Gas with limited quantities.

• Consequently, the report noted that attacks on the gas pipelines from Egypt, upon which Jordanian energy supply is large dependent, have aggravated the situation significantly.


The released Energy Report has also revealed significant related figures including:

• 96% of the Kingdom’s energy needs are imported, while local resources only cover 4% of such needs.

• Imported energy costs JD 3.7 billion which almost constitutes 18% of the total GDP.

• 40% of Jordan’s total exports’ revenue cover the energy imports bill.

• Energy imports constitute 28% of the overall imports’ value.

• Anticipated demand increase of electricity will be around 7% during the next ten years.

• Around 40% of the available electricity goes to domestic usage; (25%) to the industrial sector and 17% to the commercial sector.

• Jordan’s overall consumption of energy reaches up to 8.5 million tons of oil (crude oil, derivatives, local and imported oil, renewable energy, imported electricity).

• The national strategy energy included the establishment of electric power plants during the period (2007-2030) with a total capacity of about (6000) million watts, at a total cost ranging from (9) to (15) billion dollars.

The Energy Report dealt with the diversification of energy resources to ease the financial burden on the national economy, and it stressed the need to develop domestic energy resources, including:

• Renewable energy: the need to intensify and accelerate efforts to develop renewable energy sources.

• Domestic oil and natural gas: the national oil company should redouble its efforts, whether through its technical staff or with the help of foreign companies that obtained the concession for oil and gas in various parts of the Kingdom, especially to develop the Al Risha oil field.

• Oil Shale: all those who were granted the right of mining and the use of oil shale to generate electricity or to extract oil should be urged to redouble their efforts and the concerned local bodies should contribute to such efforts.

• On the question of Nuclear Energy, it was recommended that any practical steps should be postponed until the confirmatio