During the period from 2011 to 2014 the energy bill cost Jordan around JD 5 billion per year as oil prices were above the level of $100/ barrel.
You will never understand how the energy bill had been of a huge economic burden on Jordan and its people till we are dealt with numbers and accurate data. As I explained before, Jordan imports almost all its needs of energy from foreign markets, a very expensive way for the country.
During the period from 2011 to 2014 the energy bill cost Jordan around JD 5 billion per year as oil prices were above the level of $100/ barrel. [1]
As the above graph shows, when oil prices dropped sharply in the last 3 years, the cost of importing oil was reduced to JD 2-3 billion. Still, that’s a huge amount of money spent every year. This money and more must be.. SAVED!
Recent findings have shown that Jordan is one of the top countries in the world that’s rich of oil shale rocks reserves. In fact, it is ranked 6th in the world with largest oil share reserves [2] that could last for over 900 years at current energy consumption. [3]
But a more recent source ranks Jordan 3rd with largest oil shale resources: [3]
The graph tells us that Jordan can produce approximately 69 billion barrels of oil from its oil shale reserves.
I did some interesting math here and came up with a stunning conclusion:
Check out these numbers:
- Jordan imports 170k oil barrels per day (62 million barrels per year)
- Jordan can produce 69 billion of oil barrels from the oil shale it has
So, for how many years oil share in Jordan can last at current consumption?
69 billion of oil barrels Jordan can produce
____________________________________
62 million oil barrels Jordan needs per year = 1,113 years
Well, my math was not too far from the 900 years which an Estonian studies estimated. [3] I even came up with a higher estimate! The calculations I have made indicate that the sources I used have reasonable accuracy and are not biased. It even turned to be somehow more conservative.
The bottom line
Jordan’s oil shale deposits are estimated at between 40 billion to 70 billion tonnes. At current usage rates, these reserves could supply Jordan's energy requirements for at least the next 1000 years.
References
[1] “Cost of oil products imported by Jordan in USD.” https://tradingeconomics.com. Tradingeconomics.com. Web. 14 July 2018.
[2] “Largest Oil Shale resources in the world.” http://coloradogeologicalsurvey.org/energy-resources/oil-shale-2/reserves. Colorado Geological Survey. Web. 14 July 2018.
“مخزون الاردن من الصخر الزيتي 80 مليار طن”. [3] http://www.ammonnews.net/article/139601. Ammonnews.net, 17 December 2012. Web. 14 July 2018.
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