by JT | Sep 16, 2012 | 23:12

AMMAN — The Kingdom’s oil bill rose by 34.1 per cent in July this year, reaching JD2.75 billion, compared with around JD2.047 billion at the end of the same period in 2011.

The cost of imported oil derivatives accounted for 53 per cent of the Kingdom’s energy bill, while crude oil costs constituted 43 per cent, according to a Department of Statistics (DoS) report issued Sunday.

The value of the Kingdom’s energy imports stood at 31.8 per cent of overall purchases.

According to the report, Jordan’s imports of crude oil stood at around JD1.29 billion compared with JD1.13 during the same period in 2011.

Jordan also paid JD720.8 million for diesel, compared with JD427.5 million at the same period, according to the report, carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Energy Minister Alaa Batayneh has previously said that Jordan’s consumption of electricity and fuel is among the highest in the world, increasing each year by 5.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent respectively.

The unreliability of Egyptian gas supplies due to frequent explosions to the pipeline in El Arish has forced the Kingdom’s power plants to use costlier heavy fuel and diesel reserves, pushing the National Electric Power Company’s generation costs to 197 fils per kilowatt hour.

http://jordantimes.com/kingdoms-oil-bill-reaches-jd275-billion-in-july