Iraq is in talks with several companies to acquire two floating storage regasification units (FSRUs) by early June, Bloomberg reports.
The move comes as OPEC’s second-largest oil producer seeks to “address electricity shortages, which have been exacerbated by US actions against Iran.”
Washington recently declined to extend Iraq’s waiver for importing electricity from Iran. The Iraqi government has repeatedly stated that it currently has “no alternative to importing gas from Iran,” as the country remains heavily reliant on Iranian gas to power its energy grid.
According to Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister and Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani, the FSRUs will be stationed in the Khor al Zubair free economic zone near the southern city of Basra. He noted that Iranian gas supplies cover 40% of Iraq’s energy needs, a figure that rises to 50% during peak demand periods.
Since 2018, the US State Department has extended Iraq’s waiver for importing Iranian electricity 23 times, as Iraq continues efforts to expand its domestic power generation capacity.
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Photo: Dominique A. Pineiro/Creative Commons 2.0
Based on materials from TASS