Jordan, Canada’s GOSH Agree to Assess Shale Oil, Petra Says

Jordan’s energy and mineral resources ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with Global Oil Shale Holdings of Canada to evaluate the kingdom’s shale-oil reserves, the official Petra news agency reported.

The accord calls for a feasibility study about producing 50,000 barrels a day of oil from shale over 220 square kilometers (85 square miles) in the Attarat Um Ghudran and Isphere Al Mahatta areas of central and southern Jordan, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Alaa Batayneh said, according to Petra.

The company will start talks after two years on signing an agreement with the government on producing shale oil, Batayneh said. Global Oil Shale Holdings will start drilling wells within three months and conduct environmental studies for as long as two years, said David Argyle, the company’s General Manager, according to the report.

Jordan says it holds the world’s fourth-largest reserves of shale oil, a sedimentary rock containing solid bituminous materials that are released as petroleum-like liquids when the rock is heated. The government is turning to shale oil along with nuclear, solar and wind power to help meet rising demand for electricity.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mohammad Tayseer in Amman, Jordan, through the Dubai newsroom at mtayseer@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss at sev@bloomberg.net