Cairo - Arab Today
Egypt is keen on boosting cooperation with Jordan in the fields of oil and gas, Petroleum Minister Sherif Ismail said on Wednesday.
At a meeting with his Jordanian counterpart Ibrahim Seif, Ismail discussed regional cooperation between Egypt, Jordan and Iraq in the coming stage.
He touched upon projects to extend oil and gas pipelines from Iraq to Egypt through Jordan, noting this would serve the best interests of the three Arab countries.
Attending the meeting from Egypt were Engineer Khaled Abdel Badie, the chairman of the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), and Engineer Fouad Rashad, the chairman of Jordanian Egyptian FAJR Company.
Abdel Fattah al Daradkeh, the managing director of Jordan's National Electric Power Company, and Qais Beshr, the Jordanian deputy ambassador in Cairo, were also present.
Ismail stressed the importance of diversifying sources of energy.
He said Iraq has huge potentials to produce big quantities of associated petroleum gas that can very well be used while implementing joint projects.
An agreement has been reached to form a joint working team to outline a vision for integrated cooperation between Egypt, Jordan and Iraq, Ismail further said.
The minister also talked about another agreement to support cooperation in the field of oil refinery.
Egypt's Enppi will conduct an integrated study to assess the Zarqa refinery in Jordan and train cadres at Egyptian training centers.
The Jordanian minister, for his part, said his country is looking forward to boosting cooperation with Egypt in the different fields.
Amman wants to benefit from Egypt's expertise in outlining and implementing projects, as well as training, Seif said.
He also talked about exchanging information with the aim to support the oil and gas industry in Egypt and Jordan.
Source: MENA