Jordan’s Ministry of Investment announced new investment prospects through the online platform to explore and extract oil shale.
According to the platform, there are more than 18 known oil shale sites in Jordan, including al-Lajjun, al-Sultani, Jurf al-Darawish, al-Attar, Umm al-Ghadran, Wadi Maghar, Suwaqa, Khan al-Zubaib, and al-Thamd.
The investor must develop and invest in infrastructure assets and create new construction opportunities, long-term returns for shareholders, and concession rights.
The data showed that most of the leading oil shale places of proven commercial importance are in central and southern Jordan and can be easily reached via the desert road between Amman and Aqaba.
Oil shale is also found in the areas of Wadi al-Adhiyah, Wadi al-Nadhiyah, Asfir al-Mahatta, the Ghazimah Mountains, Wadi Abu al-Hamam, and most of these areas are close to the infrastructure services necessary for investment.
The data indicated that oil shale is defined as a sedimentary rock in which the organic content (kerogen) is insoluble in organic solvents but instead forms oil-like liquid hydrocarbons when subjected to thermal decomposition at temperatures of up to 500 – 600°C.
Jordan has a sizeable domestic resource of oil shale spread across 60 percent of the Kingdom’s total area, making it the fourth-largest oil shale reserve worldwide.
According to the data provided by the platform, oil shale is a safe and long-term solution to Jordan’s significant energy needs.
Many studies and surveys conducted on the use of oil shale in several locations in Jordan confirmed that the material can be exploited through three paths: heating the deep oil shale to produce oil, distilling the oil shale through surface mining, and direct combustion of oil shale to generate electricity.
