AMMAN (AFP) — Iraq agreed on Thursday to renew a 2006 deal to sell discounted oil to Jordan for three years, Jordanian Prime Minister Nader Dahabi said after talks with his visiting Iraqi counterpart Nuri al-Maliki.
"The agreement was supposed to end in August this year, but Iraq agreed to renew it for another three years at discounted prices," Dahabi told reporters at a joint news conference with Maliki after a two-hour meeting.
Iraq agreed in August 2006 to provide Jordan with between 10 and 30 percent of its daily oil needs of around 100,000 barrels at a preferential price starting from September of that year, but deliveries by road began a year late.
Jordan was paying Iraq 18 dollars a barrel less than the August 2006 price for its discounted deliveries. Oil was trading at the time at around the 75-dollar mark on world markets.
"Oil deliveries faced security problems in the past, but the situation has improved and we discussed mechanisms to deliver the oil to Jordan," Dahabi said without elaborating.
His announcement came two weeks after Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi said Baghdad was to review the deal amid soaring world prices.
Jordan increased fuel prices last week by almost 10 percent, the fifth such rise in as many months amid skyrocketing world prices.
Maliki, who arrived in Amman earlier Thursday and met with King Abdullah II, discussed the situation of around 750,000 Iraqi refugees in Jordan, which has estimated the costs of hosting them at more than two billion dollars.
"The security situation and living conditions in Iraq have improved and those who wish to return to their country will receive all possible assistance and encouragement by the Iraqi government," Maliki said.
"The Iraqi government has allocated 195 million dollars to help Iraqi families who wish to return home," said Maliki, who is due to end his visit to Jordan on Friday, without giving further details.
Jordan said in May that it would soon designate a new ambassador for Iraq where its embassy, which came under deadly attack in August 2003, is run by a charge d'affaires.
Washington has been pushing its Arab allies, notably regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia, to send ambassadors and high-level officials to Baghdad to help shore up support for the country's Shiite leadership.
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