ofvkd - The National Electricity Company signed on Tuesday an agreement with global company (Excelerate Energy) to lease a floating storage and regasification vessel for use at Sheikh Sabah's liquefied natural gas port in Aqaba.
According to the company's statement today, Wednesday, the agreement aims to ensure the continuity of natural gas supplies and to enhance the 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 shipments of liquefied natural gas from global markets, regasify them, and pump them into the national gas network, especially as the current floating vessel contract (Energos Force) ends at the end of next June.
The general manager of the National Electricity Company, Dr. 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 within official frameworks.
He explained that the agreement represents a transitional measure that ensures the continuity of liquefied natural gas facilities operations in Aqaba until the completion of the project for a shore-based regasification unit, which aims to develop the liquefied natural gas reception system and enhance its operational efficiency and reliability.
He indicated that this step gains additional importance in light of the growing regional role of Jordan's natural gas infrastructure, noting the existing arrangements for supplying the Syrian side with natural gas via the Arab Gas Pipeline after importing liquefied natural gas and regasifying it in the Kingdom, where supplying actually started at the beginning of this year.
Al-Batayneh stated that the company, in coordination with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, is working on completing 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 liquefied natural gas solutions and operating floating storage and regasification vessels.
