Iran receives 1.6 billion USD in arrears for gas exports to Iraq
A gas facility in Basra. Photo: Reuters
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iranian Minister of Petroleum, Javad Owji, announced Wednesday night that Iran received 1.6 billion USD in arrears for gas exports to Iraq.
“In the light of the active diplomacy of the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum, and after several months of negotiations, we received, a few hours ago, 1.6 billion USD of the amounts due from past years for gas exports to Iraq,” Owji mentioned in a tweet on Twitter.
“The country’s gas exports have increased by 25 percent since the beginning of this year compared to the same period last year, and the earnings in hard currency has increased by 90 percent,” Owji explained.
The Iraqi Ministry of Electricity announced on Tuesday that it would start paying Iran’s gas debts for 2020 within two days to prevent a decrease in the quantities of gas flowing to Iraq.
The Iraqi Ministry of Electricity also had stated that the Iraqi requirements of gas is more than 50 million cubic meters per day.
Earlier this month, the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity mentioned that Iran reduced five million cubic meters of the gas it exports, resulting in reduction of hours of electric power supply in Iraq.
Iraq had not paid 2020 arrears because of the complicated mechanism the Iraqi authorities are forced to follow to benefit from an exemption from the US sanctions imposed on Iran.