Dr. Saleh Al-Kharabsheh, Jordan’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, inspected today, Saturday, the development project of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Port (Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad LNG Port) in Aqaba, considered a strategic project to enhance the Kingdom’s energy supply security.

During the visit, Al-Kharabsheh held a meeting with the contractor, project consultant, and project manager Engineer Omar Al-Badour from Aqaba Development Corporation, in the presence of the General Manager of the National Electric Power Company Engineer Sofian Al-Bataineh, the Logistics Company Manager Engineer Ashraf Al-Rawashdeh, and the Director of the Ministry’s Oil and Gas Directorate Engineer Iman Awad.

Al-Kharabsheh reviewed the latest updates and developments during the meeting, in addition to discussing challenges and obstacles related to the project’s progress.

The project aims to maintain the option of importing liquefied natural gas for electricity generation and supplying industries, as a strategic option to ensure continuity of supply in case any current supply sources face difficulties. It also contributes to reducing electricity generation costs.

The project is supervised by Aqaba Development Corporation in cooperation with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and the National Electric Power Company. It includes developing an onshore regasification unit (ORU) with a capacity of up to 700 million cubic feet per day, in addition to replacing the current floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) with a new floating storage unit (FSU).

The project is financed through two concessional loans; the first from the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development amounting to 18.2 million Kuwaiti dinars, and the second from the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development amounting to 21 million Kuwaiti dinars.

The contract for implementing the onshore regasification unit was awarded to a consortium of AGP International Holdings Pte. Ltd and Consolidated Engineering Construction Co (CECC) for $125 million. The project is scheduled to be completed within 22 months from the start date, with operation expected in September 2026.

It is noted that on September 5, 2024, a lease contract for the floating storage unit (FSU) was signed between the National Electric Power Company and BW LNG Limited for ten years, ending with ownership.