Jordan’s Attarat power plant was envisioned as a high-profile project that would provide the country with a significant source of energy and strengthen its ties with China. However, since its official opening, the plant has become a topic of controversy, surrounding it putting Jordan in debt to China for billions of dollars. This has fueled tensions between the two countries as Jordan challenges the deal in an international legal battle. The $2.1 billion shale oil station has come to symbolize China’s wider model of burdening many Asian and African nations with crippling debt, serving as a cautionary tale for the region as Chinese influence grows and America withdraws.
First proposed 15 years ago, the Attarat shale oil plant was intended to fulfill Jordan’s ambitions of energy independence. However, it is now causing anger in Jordan due to its enormous price tag. If the original agreement is upheld, Jordan will have to pay China $8.4 billion over 30 years to buy the electricity generated by the plant.
The Jordanian Attarat Power Company proposed the extraction of shale oil from the desert and the construction of a plant to provide 15% of the country’s electricity supply in 2012. This aligned with the government’s desire for energy self-sufficiency amid the Arab uprisings of 2011. However, extraction proved expensive, risky, and technologically challenging. As the project lagged, Jordan struck a $15 billion agreement to import large amounts of natural gas at competitive prices from Israel in 2014, leading to a waning interest in Attarat.
The investment was part of China’s broader push into the Arab world, which hungered for foreign investment. The funding for large infrastructure projects came with few political strings attached. According to Musa Hantash, a geologist on the parliamentary energy committee, the deal was the natural outcome of corruption and a lack of technical expertise. “It’s very difficult to convince these big companies to invest in Jordan. There are things to help certain people make a profit,” he said, without elaborating.
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