Oct 06 2016
The gas deal
By Daoud Kuttab
The American Noble Energy Company signed a 15-year agreement with the National Electric Power Company to ensure its supply with natural gas at the cost of $10 billion.
The gas will be coming from the newly discovered huge gas wells in the eastern Mediterranean and will most likely be piped into Jordan through the occupied West Bank, without the permission of the Palestinians.
The Jordan Bromine Company, which operates south of the Dead Sea, had signed a similar deal.
Ever since a memorandum of understanding was signed to buy the Israeli gas from the American company, many Jordanians have protested the deal.
Parliament opposed it, as well as large numbers of Jordanians, but since this is a deal with a private company, even though the government owns controlling shares in it, it does not need parliamentary approval.
At least this is what government officials say.
This leaves the Parliament with very few options to stop the deal. It would have to vote down the government, in a vote of confidence, to be able to stop this deal. Continue Reading »