The two energy exchange routes between Jordan and Iraq have been halted since the start of 2026. No shipment of Iraqi crude oil has reached the kingdom after it imported about 2.75 million barrels during 2025, while electricity supplies from Jordan to Iraq’s western Rutba district stopped after the district was connected to the Iraqi grid. The two sides are discussing the resumption of crude supplies and an increase in electricity interconnection capacity to 500 megawatts.
Talks on changing the type of crude
Data from Iraq’s State Organization for Marketing of Oil, known as SOMO, showed that Iraq exported 2.748 million barrels to Jordan during the past year, despite a complete halt in supplies for three months. Volumes during the supply months were around 300,000 barrels per month, equivalent to roughly 10,000 barrels per day.
Jordan imports Iraqi oil under a memorandum of understanding that provides for the supply of about 10,000 barrels per day of Kirkuk crude, with a 15% margin above or below that level. These volumes covered about 7% of the kingdom’s oil needs. The arrangements also provide for compensation for volumes that cannot be supplied, once the matter is formally settled between the two sides.
A source familiar with the matter said the Iraqi side had requested changing the specification of the oil sent to Jordan from Kirkuk crude to Basra crude, prompting a study of the Jordan Petroleum Refinery’s ability to process the new crude. The Jordanian side contacted Iraq at the beginning of the current month to request the specifications of Basra crude and determine its suitability for the refinery.
Jordan Petroleum Refinery Director-General Hassan Al-Hayari said contacts were under way with SOMO to identify oil grades suitable for the Jordanian refinery or to resume supplying the kingdom with Kirkuk crude. The most recent annual contract expired on June 26, 2025, before being extended for three months, starting in October and ending last December, to complete delivery of the agreed volumes.
A land route used by hundreds of trucks comes to a halt
The halt in shipments stopped a transport operation involving hundreds of Jordanian and Iraqi tankers that carried crude across the Trebil–Karama border crossing to the petroleum refinery in Zarqa, with volumes reaching about 300,000 barrels per month in normal months. Some Jordanian trucking activity shifted to transport from Aqaba Port as cargo traffic bound for Iraq increased.
The number of containers bound for Iraq through Aqaba Port rose from 3.599 thousand containers during the first seven months of 2025 to 37.182 thousand containers during the same period of the current year, an increase of 33.583 thousand containers, or 933.1%, as bulk cargo and truck traffic bound for the Iraqi market also increased.
According to the source familiar with the matter, the availability of multiple sources for importing crude and petroleum products made it possible to offset the Iraqi volumes. The halt in shipments therefore did not affect the availability of supplies in the Jordanian market, but it disrupted one of the overland supply routes used by the kingdom in recent years.
Rutba connected to the Iraqi grid
Electricity supplies to Rutba district from Jordan stopped after the district was reconnected to Iraq’s national power system via Al-Qaim, following the completion of transmission towers on the Risha–Rutba–Al-Qaim line. Rutba District Administrator Imad Al-Dulaimi said the Jordanian line had been temporarily suspended pending completion of the project’s requirements and the connection of the towers for the 400-kilovolt line, in preparation for talks on restarting the interconnection at a capacity of up to 500 megawatts.
Jordan’s National Electric Power Company confirmed that the electricity interconnection project remains in place, with plans to raise its capacity to 500 megawatts after infrastructure work is completed. The project aims to facilitate energy exchange and strengthen the stability of the power system, as part of an Iraqi plan to diversify electricity import sources alongside interconnection projects with Turkey and the Gulf states.
On September 26, 2024, Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity, represented by the Central Region Electricity Transmission Company, signed the second amendment to an energy sales contract with Jordan’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, represented by the National Electric Power Company. The agreement renewed electricity supplies to Rutba through a 132-kilovolt network from the Risha area in Mafraq Governorate, with a future transition to a 400-kilovolt network.
Jordan among Iraq’s oil export options
The halt in supplies comes as Baghdad seeks additional outlets for crude exports. Iraq had warned that a continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz could reduce its monthly oil revenues from about $7 billion to $1 billion, compared with average exports of roughly 3.3 million barrels per day before the crisis.
Iraq has turned to other routes to market its products, including supplying about 650,000 barrels per month of fuel oil to Syria for export through the Mediterranean Sea. Oil exports from Iraq’s Kurdistan Region through Turkey’s Ceyhan port have meanwhile declined to about 20,000 barrels per day, compared with about 240,000 barrels per day before the crisis.
Zainab Al-Khazraji, a member of Iraq’s parliamentary oil committee, said the Oil Ministry was working to diversify crude export outlets, with moves toward Jordan, Turkey, Syria and other countries. The ministry is also working on a new crude transport and export pipeline system along the Basra–Haditha–Fishkhabur and Haditha–Baniyas routes.
Jordanian Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Saleh Al-Kharabsheh said the kingdom had received requests to study the possibility of exporting Iraqi crude oil and heavy fuel through its territory. The relevant authorities are studying the requests in light of storage capacity, requirements to maintain strategic stocks for the domestic market, and the capacity of Aqaba Port and the berth designated to receive and export crude oil and its products.
The Iraq–Jordan oil pipeline project remains under consideration, with a planned length of about 1,700 kilometers from southern Iraq to Aqaba Port on the Red Sea. Al-Kharabsheh had announced that the Iraqi Council of Ministers approved the project’s framework agreement, but the pipeline has not entered the implementation phase amid financing challenges and political and security conditions.
