Iranian gas exports to Iraq expected to increase next summer
A natural gas refinery at the South Pars gas field in Iran. Photo: AP
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iranian Ambassador to Iraq, Mohammed Kazem Al Sadeq, confirmed on Friday that Iranian gas exports to Iraq are expected to increase in the summer season.
Sadeq revealed that there is an agreement to supply 40–50 million cubic meters of gas to Iraq on a daily basis and that flows of the agreed-upon volumes of gas would resume normally following the conclusion of maintenance works, according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
The Iranian official stated that Iran recently performed yearly maintenance on the gas pipelines that are used to export gas to Iraq, adding that gas flows declined but did not completely stop.
The Iraqi Ministry of Electricity revealed last week that Iraq lost about 25 percent of its electrical output as a result of a decrease in gas supplies from Iran.
The spokesperson of the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity, Ahmed Musa, clarified that gas imports from Iran are declining because of maintenance projects in Iran, explaining that 4,200 megawatts per hour were lost in Iraq.
Iraq presently generates around 18,600 megawatts of power every hour, which supplies the center and southern parts of the country with 16 hours of electricity each day.
Iraq imports 1,200 megawatts of electricity from Iran in addition to its 8,000 megawatts of electricity generated by gas imported from Iran.
Currently, Iraq imports 10 million cubic meters of gas on a daily basis, compared to the 50 million cubic meters needed by the electrical system.
The Iraqi Ministry of Electricity is planning to increase its electricity generation to 27,000 megawatts by May 1 to meet the country’s energy needs during the scorching summer months.