Khaberni - The National Electric Power Company signed an agreement yesterday, Tuesday, with the global company (Excelerate Energy) to lease a floating storage and regasification vessel for use at the Sheikh Sabah LNG port in Aqaba.
According to the company's statement on Wednesday, the agreement aims to ensure the continuity of natural gas supplies and enhance energy supply security in the kingdom.
The agreement is part of the company's plans to maintain the readiness of the national infrastructure to receive liquefied natural gas shipments from global markets, and to regasify and pump them into the national gas network, as the current contract for the floating vessel (Energos Force) ends at the end of next June.
The general manager of the National Electric Power Company, Sofian Al-Batayneh, said that the agreement reflects the company's commitment to enhancing the flexibility of the natural gas system in the kingdom and enabling it to handle various operational scenarios, whether to supply local power generation stations or to support regional cooperation arrangements under the approved official frameworks.
He explained that the agreement represents a transitional measure that ensures the continuity of operations of the liquefied natural gas facilities in Aqaba until the completion of the project of the onshore regasification unit, which aims to develop the LNG reception system and improve its operational efficiency and reliability.
He indicated that this step gains additional importance in light of the growing regional role of the Jordanian natural gas infrastructure, noting that there are existing arrangements for supplying the Syrian side with natural gas through the Arab Gas Pipeline after importing the LNG and regasifying it in the kingdom, where the supply actually began at the beginning of this year.
Al-Batayneh said that the company, in coordination with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, is working to complete similar arrangements with the Lebanese side, after fulfilling the necessary technical, contractual, and regulatory requirements, emphasizing that the priority will remain to meet the needs of the Jordanian electrical system and ensure local supply security.
Excelerate Energy is one of the global companies specializing in LNG solutions and operating floating storage and regasification vessels.
