Jordan is hoping to meet more of its gas demand domestically, with a BP gas field development project primed to start.
Results from appraisal of the Risha natural gas field near the Iraqi border are about to be disclosed, and if they show commercial flows development could begin within.
“If it is proven that the volume of gas in the field is feasible for commercial purposes, the development of the gas field will begin immediately,” Jordanian Oil Minister Fayez Abu Gaoud told Bloomberg News.
Jordanian officials expect the field, which BP has been exploring since 2009, could produce as much as 330 million cubic feet of natural gas, a third of the abount initially hoped. If the exploration is a success BP has committed to investing between $8-$10 billion on the basis of increasing gas production to around 1 billion cubic feet of gas per day.
Frequent disruption to a pipeline from Egypt has led Jordan – which gets 80% of its gas from abroad – to explore other sources of gas, including LNG, pipelines from gulf states, and increased exploration on- and offshore.
