July 13, 2007

Kuwait's KGL Petroleum to Invest $500 Million in Jordan

Kuwait's KGL Petroleum to Invest $500 Million in Jordan

Amman, July 12 (Petra)--Board Chairman of the Kuwait KGL Petroleum Company and Former Kuwaiti Industry and Trade Minister Yousef Al Zalzalah said that the company had allocated $500 million for investment in Jordan.

"The amount could increase, for the company intends to expand its investment in the future," Al Zalzalah said in a statement to Jordan News Agency.

His visit to Jordan, he added, came due to Jordan's good reputation in the investment field, noting that this prompted Kuwaitis to set up investment projects in Jordan.

The KGL chairman said the company has investments in various oil sectors, adding the company started investing in Jordan, particularly after its representatives attended a conference in Jordan and held meetings with Jordanian investors.

Al Zalzalah hailed Jordanian legislations which encourage Arab and foreign investors to invest in the country through providing them with facilities and preserving their rights.

"The strong brotherly ties between His Majesty King Abdullah II and the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah also prompted Kuwaitis to invest in the Kingdom," he added.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

AMMAN (JT) — A Kuwaiti company on Thursday announced plans to invest $500 million in the Kingdom, eyeing Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company (JPRC) potentials.

“KGL Petroleum Co. has allocated $500 million for investments in Jordan, and the figure is likely to increase because the company plans to expand its investments in the future,” Chairman Yousef Zalzaleh said in Amman.

“The company seeks to invest in several fields in Jordan, including the JPRC, which is going to be privatised,” Zalzaleh, a former Kuwaiti minister of trade and industry, told the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

The JPRC’s 50-year monopoly is expected to end early next year. The company has been looking for strategic partners to handle various operations of the refinery, including transport, distribution and refining.

KGL groups several companies, including KGL Petroleum and 20 subsidiaries investing in transportation, computers, storage and waste management as well as oil exploration and refining, according to Zalzaleh.

He said KGL Petroleum and its strategic partner Indian Reliance Petroleum Ltd. will propose a plan to extract “abundant quantities” of oil shale in Jordan.

“We know that oil shale extraction is considered costly, but our strategic partner has developed a new techonolgy to reduce the cost,” Zalzaleh said. The country’s reserves of oil shale are estimated at 40 billion tonnes.