Iranian gas shortage causes over 7,000 MW loss in Iraq's power grid

Shafaq News/ On Thursday, the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity spokesperson Ahmed Moussa revealed that a shortage in imported Iranian gas has led to a loss of more than 7,000 megawatts in the national power grid.

Moussa told Shafaq News, “Some power plants rely on domestic gas, including those in the southern regions, while others operate with gas supplied in coordination with the Ministry of Oil, as well as various types of fuel.”

“Some plants operate exclusively on imported gas, which means that any gas shortage negatively affects their operation.” He clarified, “The supply of Iranian gas has dropped to 15 million cubic meters per day, coupled with a halt in maintenance of domestic gas in the southern region, resulting in a loss of 7,600 megawatts from the power grid.”

"Currently, electricity production stands at 18,000 megawatts," he added.

On Wednesday, the Iraqi Parliament’s Oil and Gas Committee hosted the Minister of Electricity, Ziad Ali Fadhel, and the ministry's staff to discuss fuel supply.

Fadhel discussed the Ministry's provision of approximately 200,000 tons of gas in case the supply of Iranian gas to power plants is cut off.

He explained that some plants, like Al-Bismayah, Al-Sadr, and Al-Mansouriya, rely on imported Iranian gas, while other plants use different types of fuel, confirming that “it is currently impossible to operate these stations solely on national gas.”

Despite having major oil and gas reserves, Iraq has been suffering from a severe electricity crisis for years, and relying mostly on Iran to provide power.

Recently, to address this, the country has been working on several projects with neighboring countries including linking its power grid with those of Jordan and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states.