Iraq relies on three countries to import gas instead of Iran.
Iraq relies on three countries to import gas instead of Iran.
2025-03-19 02:01
Shafaq News/ Iraq is seeking alternative solutions to obtain gas to fuel its power plants, after the United States decided to end the exemption it had granted Baghdad to import this material from Iran.
Negotiations are currently underway with Algeria and Qatar to import liquefied gas to Iraq, according to contracts that may be medium-term (3-5 years), according to a source in the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity.
The Energy platform quoted an informed source as saying, “Iraq is counting on increasing national gas production and benefiting from halting gas flaring within three years. At that point, domestic gas will be relied upon in the electricity system.”
LNG imports will begin once Iraq completes the infrastructure at Khor al-Zubair port. This includes contracting for a floating offloading and storage platform and connecting it to a 40-kilometer pipeline that will transport the gas via a link to the national pipeline near the Shatt al-Basra River.
Meanwhile, Iraq is moving to double its electricity import capacity from Türkiye to secure the necessary supplies for its northern provinces.
The current capacity of the interconnection line between the two countries is approximately 300 megawatts, and Iraq aims to double this capacity to 600 megawatts next summer.
According to negotiations conducted by Iraqi Electricity Minister Ziyad Ali Fadhil on Sunday, March 16, 2025, with Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar, the necessary infrastructure is scheduled to be ready within the next few months, so that the connection will be ready for the new capacity in the summer of 2025.
This is also confirmed by informed sources, who say that the new capacities for the electricity interconnection between the two countries will come into effect next summer, with Ankara expected to import approximately 300 megawatts from Iraq during the remaining seasons.
Iraq is currently preparing the infrastructure at Khor al-Zubair port in Basra Governorate to import liquefied natural gas, which could take the next three to five months.
It is planned to contract for a floating platform for unloading and storage, and connect it to a 40-kilometer pipeline that will transport the gas by connecting it to the national pipeline near the Shatt al-Basra.
In late February, the Iraqi Oil Ministry’s Undersecretary for Gas Affairs, Izzat Sabir, stated that the federal government was studying the possibility of importing gas from Qatar and Algeria after the US president revoked the exemption granted to Iraq to import this material from Iran. Sabir emphasized that the ministry was determined to stop flaring associated gas by 2030.
shafaq.com
