Alrai - The Jordan Phosphate Mines Company, under the patronage of the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Hala Zawati, in Aqaba, yesterday, Sunday, launched the main gas line to supply the company's industrial complex with natural gas.

The inauguration of the pipeline came within the framework of the agreement signed earlier by the company with the Jordanian-Egyptian Fajr Company for the transport and supply of natural gas, and the Egypt Gas Company. With the aim of supplying the industrial complex in Aqaba with about 1,370 million cubic feet of natural gas annually. Energy Minister Hala Zawati affirmed her pride that the launch of the pipeline coincides with the Kingdom's celebrations of the birth of His Majesty King Abdullah II and the first centenary of the nation, describing the gas pipeline as an important achievement that provides a national edifice with added economic value and achieves one of the government's priorities by supporting and strengthening the competitiveness of national industries.



She said that the energy strategy and its implementation plan included a trend towards the use of natural gas for industries due to the importance of this step in reducing energy costs for industries that switch from using different fuels to natural gas, as the energy cost has been proven to be low between 25 percent to 55 percent.

Minister Zawati affirmed the government's support for the conversion to natural gas, by adopting a set of exemptions granted to infrastructure, seeking to encourage and support this transformation due to its importance in reducing energy costs for factories, pointing to the environmental impact of using natural gas as a clean fuel that reduces carbon emissions and does not contain any impurities or any Suspended materials.

She enumerated the benefits of using natural gas to achieve savings in operating and maintenance costs. The supply is made through terrestrial networks to ensure continuity and save costs for establishing storage warehouses, transportation and handling fees.

Zawati described the Southern Industrial Complex gas pipeline, which supplies the complex with about four million cubic feet of natural gas per day, as a step in the right direction, expressing her hope that it will be positively reflected on the competitiveness of the phosphate company’s sales by reducing the energy bill for the company, by replacing the fuel currently used. (Heavy fuel oil), the most expensive, with the least expensive natural gas.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Jordan Phosphate Mines Company, Dr. Muhammad Al-Thunaibat, said that the inauguration of the gas station and the gas line that will feed the industrial complex, whose construction was signed and linked with the Egyptian Jordanian Fajr Company for the transport and supply of natural gas and the Egypt Gas Company was completed and commissioned before the date specified in the construction and installation agreement simultaneously. With the Kingdom's celebrations of its first centenary and the birthday of His Majesty King Abdullah II and the start of work to feed the industrial complex with gas instead of heavy fuel.

He added that the industries Dr. Al-Dunaibat included are luminaries that must be years ahead of their era in order to be able to continue giving, not to wait for time to change for the better, but rather to change and develop for the better and continuously. Years are increasing in numbers and we are the ones who either advance towards the better with our ideas and creativity Al-Dhunaibat

confirmed that the company began to rearrange its plans and papers since 2017 in order to be able to continuous tender and get out of its crisis that it went through in years past. Management by liberating the mining sector in the company from monopoly and opening the door to competition, achieving a saving of no less than 40% of the mining costs, and we set standards for spending and controlling expenses, and this has achieved for us a savings that exceeded sixty million dinars in the past four years and thus we moved to the side of profit rather than losses That she suffered.

Al-Thunaibat indicated that the company entered into a real strategic partnership after the Indian company IFFCO purchased the Brunei share, and thus the partnership was no longer only financial, but also brought with it its proven technical expertise, which contributed to the development of the company's business. The company also entered into new investments with investors in the field of white acid, and we also signed an agreement. Establishing a factory for what is known as yellow phosphorous with the Japanese company for the exploitation of phosphate ores in Al-Abyadh.

He added that an agreement was signed to establish the aluminum fluoride plant in Shidia, as well as the industrial water desalination plant for the industrial complex, and it was expected that these industries would be established by the beginning of 2021, but the circumstances of the Corona pandemic forced us to re-arrange new dates and we are waiting in the near future to obtain a license to generate solar energy as well as cooperation With the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority and the Aqaba Development Corporation to organize the transfer of phosphates to Aqaba and the signing of an agreement with a Jordanian company and a Chinese-Turkish consortium to establish phosphate washing and flotation factories in the Shidiyah mines that will provide us with 1.5 million tons of phosphate annually of good quality for a period of twenty years, noting that all these agreements have enabled By increasing the company's competitiveness and strengthening its global position.

With regard to human resources and business development, Dr. Al-Thunaibat said that a plan to restructure and lean the company has been implemented, and a plan for job replacement has been prepared by training 300 engineers and technicians in various technical specialties, and a research and development department has been established to follow developments, keep pace with development and provide studies and opinions to ensure the optimal use of phosphate ores and phosphate fertilizers. For this purpose, we brought in the best experiences from Jordanian universities, and we opened the company's doors to researchers to

benefit from the stock of expertise available to the company and to benefit from the research outputs. The company has a roadmap that is constantly reviewed to strengthen its position in the Arab world and internationally.

In turn, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Jordanian-Egyptian Fajr Company, Eng. Fouad Rashad, said that the project comes within the framework of the existing cooperation between the Phosphate Mines Company and the Egyptian Jordanian Fajr Company to enhance the future stage of developing the implementation of projects to feed the industrial sector in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan with natural gas, praising the fruitful cooperation for the success of the implementation of the natural gas delivery project For the phosphate plant, which is considered an economical project that helps reduce the operational costs of the plants compared to other fuels, and preserves the environment.

Fouad added that according to the signed agreements, the Egyptian Jordanian Fajr Company will provide the phosphate plant in Aqaba with about 1,370 million cubic feet / year of gas, pointing out that despite the circumstances imposed by the Corona pandemic and to support this national industry, Fajr Company has cooperated with the main contractor of the project (Gas Company Egypt) to study and present all available options to reduce the impact of the Corona pandemic on the timetable for the implementation of the project due to its economic and environmental impact on the plant, as Fajr Company has completed the implementation of the project to supply the industrial complex of phosphates in Aqaba and its readiness to receive natural gas, starting from the first of December On the second day, and 9 months before the contractual date.

The CEO of the Jordan Phosphate Mines Company, Eng. Abdul Wahab Al-Rowad, said that this achievement is added to the national record of the Jordanian state’s achievements and reflects the continuation of the process of construction and achievement led by His Majesty King Abdullah II in various fields.

He indicated that the project will contribute to improving environmental conditions and reducing pollution by reducing harmful emissions resulting from the use of heavy fuels, in addition to improving combustion efficiency in boilers by 2 to 5 percent, which increases the useful life of industrial machines, and takes advantage of preferential gas prices. Comparison with fuel oil.

He praised the efforts of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources for its role in assisting local and national industries, and encouraging their transformation to use natural gas, and the efforts of the National Electricity Company, the Jordanian Egyptian Fajr Company, Egypt Gas and the cadres of the Jordanian Phosphate Mines Company, especially the industrial complex, in achieving this achievement for the company.

The project consists of two main parts; The first includes the natural gas supply station system, and the establishment of a pressure measurement and reduction station, while the second part includes the extension of the internal network necessary to feed the factories of the industrial complex with natural gas, which contributes to providing the rest of the industrial sectors surrounding the industrial complex with this.

The opening ceremony was attended by the head of the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority, Eng. Nayef Bakhit, the Egyptian ambassador to Amman, Sherif Kamel, the first secretary of the Indian embassy in Amman, Razim Kadafa, a number of the company's board members, the head of the Mining and Mining Workers Union, Khaled Al-Fanatseh, and a number of stakeholders and partners from the Jordanian and Egyptian sides.

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