Jordan steps up gas field development to slash imports

• Country facing ‘difficult’ electricity crisis
• Power generation cost up $140m a month
• Plan to phase out Israeli gas imports

Jordan is speeding up a project to develop its sole gas field in its eastern desert, part of its bid to become self-sufficient and phase out gas imports from Israel.

Israel’s decision to suspend gas supplies to Jordan due to the Iran conflict has prompted it to enforce austerity measures in domestic gas distribution and power consumption as part of an emergency plan.

A surge in oil and gas prices has boosted the cost of power generation in Jordan by nearly 100 million dinars ($140 million) a month, according to Ziad Al-Saaydeh, chairman of the Energy and Minerals regulatory commission (EMRC).

He said in a YouTube interview published by EMRC that Jordan is facing a “costly and difficult” electricity crisis despite a surge in renewable energy sources, which now account for nearly 27 percent of the country’s energy mix.

Al-Saaydeh said speeding up the development of the Risha gas field would ease a prolonged crisis and allow Jordan to achieve self-sufficiency in natural gas by 2029.

“The field’s production has surged from around 17 million cubic feet per day (cfd) to between 80 million and 90 million cfd. What matters now is that work should be intensified so we can reach self-sufficiency in 2029,” he said.

In late 2025, Jordan approved nearly JD35 million ($50 million) for the development of Risha during 2026 as part of a five-year plan to boost its output to full capacity of nearly 418 million cfd, according to officials.

Around 16-20 million cfd of the produced gas is sold to local companies but the supplies are far below Jordan’s gas needs, mainly for its power and industrial sector.

The Jordan Strategy Forum, a key think-tank in the country, said in a study in 2025 that the field’s output would peak in July 2030.

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“By July 2030, Jordan will have enough natural gas to meet more than 60 percent of its total energy needs,” the study said.

At present, Jordan depends on Israeli gas to generate nearly 60 percent of its electricity. The rest is generated from domestic gas output, shale oil, renewable energy and diesel.

The country’s National Electric Power Company said at the end of February that it had activated an emergency plan to deal with the suspension of Israeli imports. This includes halting gas supplies to private industrial units, using emergency gas stocks, increasing imports of liquefied natural gas and using more diesel in power generation.