Iran gradually resumes pumping gas to power plants in Iraq
Iran gradually resumes pumping gas to power plants in Iraq
2024-12-06 03:07
Shafaq News/ A government source revealed, on Friday, that Iran has gradually begun pumping gas to power plants in central Iraq, after completing maintenance work on gas transmission lines.
The source told Shafaq News Agency that the coming hours will witness an improvement in the electricity supply in the central regions, especially the governorates of Baghdad, Wasit, Diyala, parts of Anbar and other cities.
On Sunday, November 24, the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity announced that the Iranian gas supplies had been completely halted for maintenance purposes for 15 days to Baghdad, the central governorates, and the Middle Euphrates, causing the national electricity system to lose 5,500 megawatts.
Since the 1990s, Iraq has been relying on a system of scheduled power outages due to the low levels of electricity production, and residents rely on private generators to fill the gap.
To fill this gap, Iraq imports electricity and gas from Iran for between a third and 40 percent of its energy needs, but it has difficulty paying for those imports because of U.S. sanctions that only allow Iran to obtain funds to buy non-sanctioned goods, such as food and medicine.
In parallel, Baghdad is counting on electricity interconnection projects with neighboring countries in order to secure stable energy supplies without the need for fuel to operate stations, in light of the instability of Iranian gas supplies, which recently caused Baghdad to lose more than 4,000 megawatts due to gas shortages and the cessation of interconnection lines with Iran.
The United States is pressuring Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest oil producer, to reduce its dependence on Iranian gas.
To find an alternative pipeline, Iraq announced in August 2023 the signing of a preliminary agreement with Turkmenistan to import gas from it to meet part of the needs of the country’s power plants.
shafaq.com
