Jordan Oil Terminals Company (JOTC) started on April 23rd 2018, filling the Kingdom’s strategic petroleum products reserve in Amman Strategic Terminal for Petroleum Products (ASTPP) in Madouna, unloading the first diesel truck of 35 tons’ payload.

The company's General Manager, Eng. Kholoud Mahasneh, said that the trial operations had started in preparation for the full operations in early August to store and manage the Kingdom's strategic reserves of petroleum products and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

She explained that ASTPP project is comprised of 6 diesel tanks with 172,000 tons capacity, 4 Gasoline-90 and two Gasoline-95 tanks with 127 thousand tons capacity, two jet fuel with 34,000 tons capacity and 5 liquefied petroleum gas tanks with 10,000 tons total capacity.

Eng. Mahasneh clarified that, after the operations of ASTPP, the Kingdom’s strategic stock will cover demand for 34 days for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, while the quantities of LPG will be covered for 10 days.

ASTPP was constructed, according to Mahasneh, with a grant from the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, and within the Gulf grant, at a cost of $ 174.7 million. Its ownership was transferred from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to Jordan Oil Terminals Company (JOTC)

The project also includes truck loading and unloading platforms, safety and fire extinguishing systems, a system for separating oils from water, a treatment system, and all the necessary equipment for the management and handling of petroleum products.
Mahasneh said that the project was strategic and pioneering in the government's efforts to implement the national strategy for the energy sector and the executive program for restructuring the oil sector, and that it would constitute a quantum leap in the development of infrastructure of the oil sector. The ASTPP project was constructed according to the best international codes and specifications, and it will be run in accordance with the best international practices and the best health, safety and environmental standards.

The other projects that JOTC undertakes include, along with ASTPP project, Aqaba Oil Terminal (AOT) with a capacity of 100 thousand tons of petroleum products and 6 thousand tons of liquefied petroleum gas in Aqaba. 

JOTC will be ready to receive vessels of petroleum products imported by Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) operating in the Kingdom as of the end of June, 2018.

The cabinet approved in May 2017 the transfer of ownership of oil Terminals, ASTPP and AOT, to the Jordan Oil Terminals Company (JOTC), wholly owned by the government.

According to a previous government decision, JOTC will manage the storage and handling of petroleum products, after the completion of the concession of the Petroleum Refinery Company in next May.

It is noteworthy that the company was established in August 2015 under the decision of the Council of Ministers to be a private shareholding company wholly owned by the Government of Jordan, and should operate on a purely commercial and profitable bases and focus on storage activity and adoption of the open-access principles within the activities of the company.

JOTC represents the logistics executive arm of the government in the oil sector and it will be responsible for managing the Kingdom's petroleum products strategic reserve. JOTC is committed to ensure the training of Jordanian cadres to operate and maintain oil terminal according to the best international practices, and to adopt the best available technologies in conducting its operations.