Dubai — Iraq’s supply of gas from Iran is expected to resume within a week, an engineer at the electricity ministry told Reuters on Wednesday.
The electricity ministry said on Tuesday that the flow of gas from Iran had been halted due to the shutdown of some generating units and load shedding at others.
The ministry reported that 4,000 to 4,500 megawatts of power has been lost from the electrical system as a result of the halt to Iranian gas supplies.
“The Iranian side sent a telegram informing the Ministry of Electricity of the complete cessation of gas supplies due to unforeseen circumstances,” the statement added.
Iran supplies between a third and 40% of Iraq’s gas and power needs.
Iran has not given a timeline for resuming gas supplies to Iraq, two officials at the electricity ministry said on Wednesday. However, Ali Nouri, an engineer at the ministry, told Reuters the flow is expected to restart within a week.
Iraq’s power demand during winter peak hours reaches about 48,000 megawatts, while domestic generation stands at roughly 27,000 megawatts, forcing the country to rely on imports to bridge the gap, electricity officials said.
“The halt was caused by a surge in demand on the Iranian side, which led to reduced gas supplies,” Nouri said.
In March, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration rescinded a waiver that had allowed Iraq, which struggles with chronic power shortages, to pay Iran for electricity. The move was part of Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran.
Reporting by Ahmed Elimam and Muayad Hamid; additional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Writing by Tala Ramadan Editing by David Goodman, Kirsten Donovan – Reuters
