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09-Apr-2012
The Economic Policy Development Forum Issues Report on Energy, Calls for Higher Council for Energy

The Economic Policy Development Forum Issues Report on Energy, Calls for Higher Council for Energy

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 confirmation of the existence of uranium in sufficient quantity and of high quality is established, as well as to study the availability of sufficient water. That is in addition to assessing all environmental implications.

• Geothermal energy: It was noted that practical experience has proven that there are many places in Jordan that can benefit from this energy and must be exploited.

On external resources of energy (oil and its derivatives, natural gas, coal, electric power), the report called for the need to diversify sources of imported crude oil and its derivatives, as well as natural gas, so that we can import fuel from more than one external source. Storage capacity of oil and its derivatives in Jordan, should also be raised so that the reserves should be sufficient for a period of about (4-6) months.

The report focused on energy security in Jordan in two ways:

• Reassurance to the flow of energy sources on an ongoing basis to avoid what might happen from interruptions beyond control.

• Reduction of pressure on trade balance and balance of payments by dependence on local resources.

The report called for the need for an in-depth study by the concerned authorities in the Kingdom to develop a general strategy for transport including actions that can lead to rationalization of fuel consumption in cars of all kinds and the adoption of any measures leading to the reduction of private car use.

The report called for the need to establish a higher council for energy consisting of experts from different sectors to develop, review and follow-up on the National Energy Strategy.

The report concluded by emphasizing that the country’s economic, social and political security largely depends on the issue and the availability of energy.

HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh during the 8th meeting of the Economic Policies Support Forum held at Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Business Forum – March 28, 2012.

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The Economic Policy Development Forum Issues Report on Energy, Calls for Higher Council for Energy

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