Iraq will continue to import gas and electricity from Iran until power plants and gas fields in the country become self-reliance, the Iraqi Minister of Electricity Louay al-Khateeb said at the weekend.
After meeting Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian in Tehran on Saturday, al-Khateeb said: “Prospects for cooperation between Iran and Iraq in the electricity sector are great and we are optimistic about enhancing electricity collaboration with Iran,” IRNA reported.
The Iraqi minister, who accompanied his Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi during a two-day official visit to Tehran, said a joint committee of the two ministries is tasked with operationalizing past MoUs signed to help develop power infrastructure in the Arab country.
Ardakanian said Iran sells 1,500 megawatts of electricity to Iraq per year.
As per a deal signed by Ardakanian and al-Khateeb in February, Iran agreed to expand cooperation in power production, export electricity and share power industry know-how and technology.
According to the agreement, Tehran will help rebuild the war-ravaged country's power infrastructure and improve its human resources.
The first electricity export contract between the two neighbors was signed in 2005 for the sale of 150 MW per annum and has been extended ever since.
Iran has exported close to 65 billion kilowatt hours of electricity to Iraq since then worth $6.2 billion, of which $5.2 billion has been paid. Ardakanian said the overdue amounts have been “rescheduled and repayments have started.”
Iraq is the biggest importer of electricity from Iran. It needs more than 23,000 MW to meet growing domestic demand. Years of war, civil strife, terror attacks and the US invasion in 2003 almost destroyed its power infrastructure creating a whopping 7,000 MW deficit.
Besides importing electricity from Iran, Iraq’s power plants also depend on Iranian natural gas to generate power. A shortage last summer fueled unrest in some southern provinces.
