Iraq’s minister of electricity Adel Kareem announced on 28 April that “an agreement has been reached” with Iran to “re-start the pumping of required gas volumes [from Iran] and settle debts.” This comes a day after his arrival in Tehran as part of a delegation Baghdad sent to secure crucial gas imports before summer (MEES, 22 April). Iraq last year contracted Iran for 1.2GW in electricity imports as well as natural gas imports rising from 45mn m3/d (1.6bn cfd) in winter to 70mn m3/d (2.5bn cfd) for the peak summer months. But with Iranian domestic power demand rising in summer (MEES, 29 April) and that of gas in winter, Tehran reduced flows.
The other issue discussed was Iraq’s debt of around $4bn for previous energy imports, with Iraq unable to pay due to sanctions on Iranian financial institutions. The Iraqi ministry says this was in part the cause of flows of Iranian gas being reduced “in prior months” to around 8.5mn m3/d (300mn cfd). (CONTINUED - 239 WORDS)
