Iran, Iraq to Negotiate 2nd Gas Transfer Contract
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran and Iraq are to hold talks to draw up another contract on transferring Iranian natural gas to the Iraqi power plants, said an energy official in Tehran.
Back in July 2013, Iranian and Iraqi oil ministers signed the first deal to transfer natural gas from Iran to Iraq.
The project is aimed at supplying Al-Baghdad and Al-Mansouriyah power plants with 25 million cubic meters (mcm) of natural gas per day.
Iran’s second gas export route to Iraq will lead to Basra power plant, but no contract in this regard has been signed yet, Managing-Director of National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) Hamid-Reza Araqi told the Tasnim News Agency on Saturday.
He also emphasized that there is a possibility that another pipeline would be constructed to export Iran’s gas to Basra power plant.
He said the first agreement with Iraq on exporting gas to the country’s power plants will be implemented this Iranian year (March 21, 2014 - March 20, 2015) on a temporary basis.
“Currently, the construction phases of the project to transfer Iran’s gas to Iraq are underway across the two sides of the border, and efforts are being made to complete the construction of the pipeline and coordinate power plants in Iraq,” he stated.
He also said that Iraq’s three power plants of Al-Baghdad, Al-Sadr and Al-Mansouriyah will produce 2,500 megawatts of electricity following the implementation of the first contract between the two countries.
Araqi had previously said that Iran will transfer gas to Iraq before the wintertime to let the Iraqi power plants prepare for a continuous inflow of natural gas in the spring of next year.
His comments came after Deputy Oil Minister for International and Commercial Affairs Ali Majedi announced in May that under a finalized deal, Iran’s gas exports to Iraq will start by March 2015.