The Iraqi Ministry of Electricity announced on Sunday that Iranian gas supplies have been completely halted for maintenance purposes for a period of 15 days, causing the loss of 5.5 gigawatts of electrical energy from its national grid.
She added that supplies were cut off “from Baghdad, the central region, and the Middle Euphrates governorates,” stressing that she would increase her coordination with the Ministry of Oil to compensate for the gas lost by the system, and it was not clear when the 15-day stoppage began.
The Ministry of Electricity said in a statement that it is “currently implementing its strategic and emergency plans to raise the capabilities of the national electrical system in all its production, transmission and distribution sectors, and is restarting projects that have been suspended for many years to obtain generating capacities that were lost and untapped to improve production and raise its rates.”
She added that it relies on “part of the operation of its production stations using national gas, another part of it using national fuel, and another part on imported gas until the government projects working to rehabilitate the national gas fields are completed.”
The statement stated that the ministry will coordinate with the Ministry of Oil to compensate for the gas lost by the system, and the ministry called on everyone to “take into account the out-of-control circumstance and maintain the loads until maintenance work is completed and gas is pumped again in the required quantities.”
Iraq relies on gas imported from Iran to meet the needs of energy projects, while the gas associated with crude oil extraction operations is wasted by burning it, causing losses of millions of dollars daily.
Since the early 1990s, Iraq has been suffering from a major shortage of electrical power and power outages that peak in the summer.
