Jordan seeks to buy Iraqi oil

Iraq said on Saturday said that it will provide Jordan with oil at reduced rates for the rest of 1998, even outside the two states' trade protocol, the Jordanian news agency, Petra, reported.

Jordanian minister of energy and mineral resources Muhammad Saleh al-Hourani said on Thursday in Baghdad that he would ask Iraq to provide his country with Iraqi oil and to erect a joint oil pipeline for this purpose.

Al-Hourani added that his visit to Baghdad aims at following up on what was agreed earlier with Iraq in the course of the oil protocol signed between the two countries at the end of last year. The Jordanian minister added that all quantities of Iraqi oil contracted upon by the two sides for the first half of the current year have been distributed according to the set contract with no obstacles.

The Jordanian minister stressed that he will hold talks on carrying out the project to erect a pipeline to transfer crude oil from Iraq to Jordan. He added that discussions will also deal with activities conducted by the Iraqi - Jordanian company for oil services and its future activities in oil explorations.