Jordan approves construction of Iraq oil pipeline

Jordan gives the green light for the construction of a pipeline that would bring oil from southern Iraq to its port of Aqaba, a government spokesman says.

In 2013, the neighboring countries agreed on the idea of the 1,700-kilometer (1,000-mile) pipeline to run from Basra to the Red Sea port at a cost of $18 billion.

But plans for the pipeline — which would run across Iraq — were then put on hold after the Islamic State jihadist group in 2014 swept across large parts of the country.

Jordan’s cabinet late Monday approved a framework agreement to be signed by both countries to build the pipeline to export Iraqi crude and provide resource-poor Jordan with oil, government spokesman Mohammed Momani says.

Momani does not give a timeframe for its construction.

— AFP