Karak International Oil, a subsidiary of U.K. company Jordan Energy & Mining Ltd., known as JEML, Wednesday clinched a concession agreement with the Jordanian government to explore oil resources from the country’s vast oil-shale formation.
The deal was signed in Amman by Jordan’s minister of energy and mineral resources, Khaled Toukan.
Under the deal, JEML would extract oil from an area of 22 square kilometres called Al Lajjun in Karak governorate some 110 kilometres south of the capital Amman.
Production is scheduled to start in 2014 and is expected to reach an average of 15,000 barrels a day of oil equivalent in 2016 and to increase gradually to 30,000 barrels a day in the following years.
A memorandum of understanding between Jordan’s Natural Resources Authority and JEML was signed in November 2006 to explore for oil in the Al Lajjun area.
Jordan, which imports about 95% of its energy needs, is estimated to have 45 billion metric tons in oil-shale deposits, which are still unexploited.
Last year the kingdom signed a concession agreement with Estonia’s Esti Energia AS to explore oil and gas resources from part of Attarat Um El-Ghudran region in southern Jordan.
In 2009, the kingdom signed a deal with Royal Dutch Shell Plc to explore for oil-shale in another Jordanian location. Shell is expected to invest billions in the projects over 20 years.
