“The Iranian side informed us that due to the renovation of the gas export pipelines, they have halted the gas exports for 15 days, causing the national electricity grid losing 5,500 megawatts of electricity,” said Ahmed Musa, spokesperson for Iraq’s electricity ministry.
According to Musa, the halt coincides with renovations at some Iraqi power stations, reducing electricity generation to less than 15,000 megawatts.
Musa told Rudaw in July that Iraq generates 27,450 megawatts of electricity, 19,000 megawatts below the required load. Eighty percent of the country's power plants rely on gas.
Iran has previously reduced gas exports to Iraq this year.
In September, Musa told Rudaw that Tehran decreased daily gas export to Iraq by nearly half, resulting in the decrease of over 2,200 megawatts of electricity. The reduction then was due to Iran renovating its pipelines in preparation for winter.
Iraq’s electricity grid has depended on gas imports from Iran for years. In July last year, the country lost nearly 5,000 megawatts of power when Iran halted exports to the southern regions and decreased them to Baghdad and central Iraq.
Iraq’s council of ministers approved an increase in the electricity ministry’s budget by 300 billion dinars (around $230 million) in early July, to go towards “projects addressing urgent distribution network issues” and equipment.
Despite its large oil and gas reserves, Iraq suffers from chronic electricity shortages,
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani has repeatedly said improving the energy sector is a priority of his cabinet and that Baghdad seeks to achieve self-sufficiency in its gas supply and end imports within the next five years.
In July 2023, Baghdad and TotalEnergies put pen to paper on a $27 billion contract to develop Iraq’s oil, gas, and renewable energies sectors - a major step towards gas self-sufficiency.
Nahro Mohammed contributed to this report
