January 03-2014
Iraq would like to buy 90 million cubic meters of Iranian gas daily as quickly as possible, it was announced after Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki visited Tehran last month.
The key question is how soon Iran will have another 90 million cubic meters available for export. The expansion of gas production has been slowed by international sanctions. As a result, Iran now imports more gas than it exports to Turkey and Armenia.
Right now, Iran’s exports to Iraq are nil. A pipeline from Iran to three electricity generating plants near Baghdad has reportedly been completed, but National Iranian Gas Export Company Director General Alireza Kameli said Saturday the first exports are not now expected to begin until next July.
The initial export rate is slated to be 7 million cubic meters per day, which will then rise to 25 million to fuel the Iraqi power plants in Sadr, Baghdad and al-Mansouryah through a 270-kilometer (167-mile) pipeline.
Speaking on the sidelines of his meeting with Iraq’s deputy prime minister for energy, Hussain ash-Shahristani, Kameli said the contract has a duration of four years, and may be extended by another six years upon the request of the Iraqi side.
According to Kameli, Iranian gas exports through the pipeline will gradually rise further to 40 mcm/day by mid-2015.
And he announced Saturday that the two countries now plan to finalize a contract in the coming weeks for the export of another 50 million cubic meters per day of gas to Iraq’s southern city of Basra. That will require a relatively short new pipeline from Iran’s Persian Gulf coast.
When exports reach 90 million—and Kameli did not give a date for that—Iran’s revenues will rise by $17 billion annually.
Iraq currently generates 8,800 megawatts of electricity against a demand of 14,000 MW, leaving neighborhoods constantly in the dark.
