Jordan agrees on shale oil plant with Eesti Energia
04.06.2012, 13:44Jordan agreed with Estonia’s Eesti Energia AS on the construction of a 460 megawatt power plant that burns shale oil, the Jordan Times reported.
The plant, due to be built in central Jordan within four years, will run on shale oil produced at a processing plant in the kingdom that is also under development by Eesti Energia, known as Enefit, the newspaper reported, citing Jordanian minister of energy and mineral resources Alaa Batayneh.
Construction of Enefit's oil shale power plant in Jordan - the first in the country - is planned to start next year, the project's director Andres Anijalg.
Anijalg told the newspaper that the the cost of operating a power plant fueled by oil shale is “significantly lower” than of a diesel, heavy oil or gas powered plant.
“Speaking from our experience in Estonia, we have shut down the plants that operate on gas because we found it much cheaper to generate electricity from oil shale,” he said.
Enefit, the international subsidiary of Eesti Energia, is working on extracting oil shale in Jordan.
Jordan owns an estimated 50 billion tons of the resource. Enefit signed a 44-year contract with Jordan in 2010, according to which the company should produce up to 40,000 barrels of oil per day by 2019.