Jordan seeks to explore local energy resources

Jordan's Natural Resources Authority signed an agreement with a Jordanian company for the exploration of oil in east of the Kingdom, seeking to increase local energy resources, the state-run Petra news agency reported on Wednesday. As part of the deal, the company was given concession rights to explore oil in an area over 9,459 sq km. The report said that the company will finish the drilling of two wells by 2015 and then work on the third one. About 97 percent of Jordanian energy needs rely on import annually. The kingdom has plans to implement a series of projects in the fields of oil shale, renewable energy and nuclear energy.