Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Egyptian natural gas supplies to Jordan have stopped completely since April 20, leading to the losses incurred by the National Electric Power Company (NEPO) to reach $4.5 billion by the end of last May, Secretary General of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Ghalib Maabreh said.

Maabreh told Petra that gas supplies which have fluctuated since the end of 2009 and declined from 250 million cubic feet until these stopped completely on April 20, forced electricity generating companies to shift their dependence on heavy fuel and diesel.

This, he added, raised the energy bill in 2013 to JD4.6 billion.

On Iraqi fuel supplies to Jordan, the secretary general said these had also stopped with effect from January 28, noting that Jordan currently depends of oil provided by the Saudi ARAMCO.

The security situation in western Iraq prevented the import of quantities agreed upon between Jordan and Iraq which stand at 10,000 barrels a day out of 140,000 barrels which is the Kingdom's daily consumption.

*Petra