Jordan does not have Saudi Arabia’s oil, Qatar’s gas or Iraq’s hydrocarbon wealth. It does, however, possess another asset that is becoming increasingly valuable on the Middle East’s energy map: location.

Jordan’s 2025–2035 Energy Strategy, approved by the government on 3rd May 2026, is built around this reality. Its logic is simple but strategic: if a country cannot become a major energy producer, it can use geography, diversification and interconnection to reduce vulnerability and expand its room for manoeuvre.This is the power of being in between.

Jordan sits at the intersection of the Levant, Iraq, the Arabian Peninsula and the eastern Mediterranean. Geography alone does not generate power. But when electricity grids, pipelines and energy infrastructure connect across borders, location can be transformed from a geographic fact into a strategic asset.

Amman’s ambition, therefore, should not be overstated as the emergence of another Middle Eastern “energy hub”. A more accurate interpretation is that of a resource-constrained state pursuing geopolitical de-risking through energy diversification and interconnection.

The goal is not independence, but distributed dependence

The core of Jordan’s strategy lies in a paradox: Amman cannot eliminate its dependence on the regional energy environment, but it can distribute that dependence across multiple partners, sources and routes.

This is a form of asymmetric interdependence. Jordan will continue to require external energy and capital, but the more options it develops, the less vulnerable it becomes to disruption from any single supplier or corridor.

The new strategy applies the same logic domestically. Renewables are targeted to account for 40 per cent of electricity generation by 2035. At the same time, the government plans to increase production from the Risha gas field to 418 million cubic feet per day by 2029 and 812 million by 2035, while connecting the field to the Arab Gas Pipeline by 2029.

These are not merely production targets. They are part of Amman’s attempt to expand Jordan’s portfolio of energy options.

East, south and west: Building a network of options

To the east, the Jordan-Iraq electricity interconnection has already taken its first operational step. Since March 2024, Jordan has supplied around 40 MW of electricity to Iraq’s Al-Rutba area. A........

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