Shell – Estonian Eesti Energia – Karak International Oil to explore and develop Jordan oil shale resources
The Jordan Oil Shale Company (JOSCO), a wholly owned Shell subsidiary, the Estonia company Eesti Energia (Enefit) and Karak International Oil (Karak) from the UK-based Jordan Energy and Mining Ltd, are now moving from the exploration phases of their respective concessions into the production phase of the huge oil shale resources lying in Jordan.
Jordan is recognized to hold the world fourth largest reserves of oil shale after USA, China and Russia with 90 to 100 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in its deposits.
Oil shale differs from the shale oil as it refers to solid hydrocarbons rocks while shale oil designate liquid tight oil trapped in shale, limestone, or sandstone.
Oil shale may also be called black shale, while shale oil might be named light tight oil (LTO).
The exploration of the oil shale started in Jordan in 2006.
Then in 2009, the international oil company (IOC) Shell, was awarded a $500 million concession to start exploration and production of oil shale in Jordan.
To lead this Oil shale Development program, Shell established the Jordan Oil Shale Company (JOSCO) and after the first years of exploration Shell has decided to start its Oil shale Development Phase-2 project.
In parallel, Karak is also planning to run into commercial operations with the development of its Al-Lajjun oil shale project designed by Hatch.
Enefit Jordan APCO to build first Oil Shale Power Plant
Relying on the Jordan oil shale resources coming into production phase, the Jordan Ministry of Environment has approved the Enefit Jordan Attarat Power Company (APCO) project to build the first oil shale-fired power plant in the country.
This oil shale-fired power plant should have a capacity of 500 MW electrical power generation.
This project will be owned and operated by the Jordan Estonian joint venture Enefit Jordan through its purposely created subsidiary Attarat Power Company (APCO).
In April 2013, APCO qualified six consortia to bid for this first oil shale-fired power plant:
- Alstom from France with Daewoo Engineering and Construction from South Korea
- China Machinery Engineering Corporation from China
- Guangdong Power from China
- Samsung Engineering from South Korea
- Posco and Daewoo International, both from South Korea
- Hyundai Engineering and Construction with LG International, both from South Korea
With oil import representing 25% of its domestic growth, the development of the oil shale reserves will help Jordan to reduce its reliance on oil supplies from troubled neighboring countries such as Egypt.
With these oil shale-fired power plants, Jordan is targeting to generate 14% of its energy consumption by 2020 out of the oil shale.
In this perspective, Enefit Jordan is opening the way of Jordan energy independency with this Attarat Power Plant project to start in 2017 supported by the oil shale development projects planned by Eesti Energia, Shell-JOSCO and Karak International.
