Iranian fears that Iraq will replace Iran with Saudi Arabia in importing electricity
Iranian fears that Iraq will replace Iran with Saudi Arabia in importing electricity
Mon, 19 Nov 2018 12:23:12
With the arrival of Iraqi President Barham Saleh, to the Saudi capital Riyadh, and before the visit of Saudi Energy Minister Khaled al-Faleh, Baghdad and his meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, Tehran expressed its fear of Iraq’s resort to import electricity from Saudi Arabia instead of Iran.
“Saudi Arabia can not take Iran’s place in the export of electricity to Iraq,” Deputy Chairman of the Iranian Electricity Association Piyam Bagheri told Fars News. “Can Iraq replace Saudi Arabia with Iran to buy electricity?”
He explained that “Iraq has to solve the problem of electricity shortage radically,” noting that “Iraq temporarily solved this problem through Turkey by mobile stations on the ships to supply the province of Basra (southern Iraq) by 350 MW, and on this basis can not solve the problem of shortage Electricity in Iraq is permanent and radical, where it needs about 10 thousand megawatts. ”
“Iraq can not provide electricity within 45 days, according to experts,” he said, noting that “Iraq, if it wants to solve the problem of electricity radically and permanently, it has to secure electricity from other countries such as Saudi Arabia, which is a serious competitor to Iran in Electricity field, and this process takes time. ”
He pointed out that “Saudi Arabia is a major center of energy, so one of the most important markets for Saudi Arabia to become a major center of energy is Iraq, because of the need for 10 thousand megawatts, where Saudi Arabia invested heavily to attract investors to build power plants in their country.”
“Saudi Arabia has always been a serious competitor to Iran to become a major energy hub, because it has huge projects so that the Gulf Cooperation Council countries are linked to the electricity grid, and if that happens, Iraq has an option to link to this network.”
In a related context, met with senior adviser to the Electricity Agency in the Ministry of Energy and Industry Saudi Arabia, Yasser Turki, King Saud Palace in Riyadh today, the Director General of Electricity in the Ministry of Electricity in Iraq Khalid Ghazi.
During the meeting, the two sides reviewed the bilateral relations and opportunities for their development, as well as discussing a number of issues of common concern, SPA said.
On Saturday, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi discussed with Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Faleh the relationship between the two countries, including cooperation in the field of energy.
The Iraqi Oil Ministry said in a statement that its minister Thamer Ghadhban, received the Saudi Energy Minister, and discussed with him the stability of the global oil market, and the participation of Saudi companies in Iraq.
The statement also said the two sides also discussed linking an electricity network between Saudi Arabia and Iraq to cover Iraq’s electricity needs.
The Iraqi government began to search for the import of electricity from neighboring Arab countries, after Iran last July to stop the export of electricity to Iraq at the height of the summer, against the background of problems related to the transfer of Iraq to the amounts owed to Tehran, which amounted to more than one billion dollars.
alrassid.org
