Trump’s decision deepens the electricity crisis in Iraq

With the approaching summer and high electricity consumption rates, the Iraqi government is facing a major challenge after US President Donald Trump’s decision to cancel the exception granted to Iraq to import gas from Iran, the main source of operating many power stations in the country.

Since 2003, Iraq has spent approximately $ 80 billion on the electricity sector, however, the electrical system still suffers from instability, in addition, the state relies heavily on importing gas from Iran, as the cost of import is about 6 billion dollars annually. Recently, Iraq went to import gas from Turkmenistan through Iran, at a cost of between 2.3 and 2.4 billion dollars annually.

Although Iraq has large gas reserves, local production is still not sufficient to meet the local demand. To confront the crisis, the government is working to invest gas fields, with the aim of achieving self -sufficiency and stopping import.
Specialists believe that these steps, despite their importance, may not be sufficient to ensure the stability of the electrical system during the summer months, especially in light of the financial and logistical challenges facing Iraq.
Government efforts

The media spokesman for the Ministry of Electricity, Ahmed Moussa, explained that the government headed by Muhammad Shi’a Al -Sudani is making strenuous efforts to solve the Iranian gas crisis, as well as dealing with the American decision to cancel the permitted exemption for Baghdad to import energy sources from Tehran (electricity and gas).

Moussa said, during his talk to “Al -Arabi Al -Jadeed”, that there are currently talks with a number of Arab gas producing countries, for the purpose of importing liquefied gas, after completing the stages of preparing the necessary infrastructure.
Moussa added that his ministry is seeking to diversify the sources of gas, as he will import 20 million cubic meters of gas through new transportation mechanisms that are being completed soon, although this quantity covers only half of what was imported from Iran.

He pointed out that there are plans to import liquefied gas through floating and mobile platforms, as the Ministry of Oil is responsible for securing these quantities, which will contribute to the operation of electrical stations with a capacity of 4000 megawatts, provided that these plans are implemented before next June, and new pipes will be extended to connect the platforms to the south stations to ensure the delivery of the necessary fuel.

Partial solutions

The economic researcher, Ali Al -Amiri, said that although the Ministry of Electricity plan includes procedures for strengthening electrical connection projects with neighboring countries and transportation networks with other countries, they remain partial solutions that are not sufficient to ensure the stability of the electrical system next summer.
Al -Amiri added, to Al -Arabi Al -Jadeed, that Iraq is facing complex financial challenges that may quickly affect the implementation of these projects, as well as the worn infrastructure that hinders improving the efficiency of the distribution.
According to the economic researcher, the real problem is not only in the current crisis, but also the failure of successive Iraqi governments over the past years to develop radical solutions that reduce Iraq’s dependence on Iranian gas, despite the warnings of the danger of relying on one source of energy.

He stressed that governments instead of investing in the local electricity sector, developing production stations, and encouraging renewable energy projects, continued in the policy of dependency on Iran, which made Iraq hostage to any political decision or international sanctions affecting supplies.
Al -Amiri stated that the rampant corruption in the energy sector contributed greatly to the continuation of the crisis, as billions of dollars were wasteful in corrupt contracts and projects that were not implemented or did not achieve the desired results.

He talked about that these policies not only led to the Iraqis of basic services, but also contributed to supporting the Iranian economy at the expense of the needs of Iraq, as the import of gas and electricity continued from Iran, despite Iraq possessing tremendous capabilities to establish an independent energy system.
The economic researcher concluded by saying: “If the government does not take real and serious measures to address the roots of the problem, by fighting corruption, investing in gas production locally, and developing alternative energy sources, we will find ourselves in front of repeated crises in every summer, which is paid for the citizen.

An expected and summer crisis in Iraq

The Energy and Electricity Committee in the Iraqi parliament confirmed that the Iraqi government has not yet reached alternatives to Iranian gas to operate power stations, which confirms the country’s demand for a expected crisis during the next summer.
The chairman of the committee, Muhammad Nuri al -Abd Rabbo, said in a press statement that successive governments in Iraq have not taken any serious steps to find alternatives to Iranian gas, stressing the need for urgent and rapid move to search for alternatives, especially since Iraq is seriously studying the creation of a platform for receiving gas, which helps in importing gas from other countries.
Al -Abd Rabbi added that Iraq, after canceling the exemptions and his commitment to this, must search quickly for alternatives, noting that “the available alternatives are the import of Russian, Qatari or Turkmenist gas.”
He stressed that the crisis of stopping Iranian gas supplies will be repeated again with the entry of the summer, stressing that “Iraq is coming to the summer of Lahab due to the gas crisis, and the fate of electricity in Iraq is attached to Iranian gas.”