Security threats stop cheap Iraq oil to Jordan

BAYJI, Iraq, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Oil shipments from Iraq to Jordan will begin as soon as security conditions improve -- and at prices estimated at $10 a barrel.

An unnamed official within the Jordanian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources told the Al-Dustur newspaper in Amman, Jordan, that an agreement for oil has been signed but is too dangerous to carry out.

The agreement begins shipments of 30,000 barrels a day, a rate that then increases to 60,000 a day, at the $10 a barrel price, the report said. Crude was trading at nearly $60 a barrel Tuesday.

Jordan's demand is about 100,000 barrels a day.

The oil will be trucked on a road connecting Bayji, Iraq, to Jordan, but gunmen control the area, making delivery impossible and dangerous.

The Iraqi-Jordanian Land Transport Company is even having trouble finding a security firm to protect the shipments.

Read the rest at UPI

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