Shafaq News/ Hassan Al-Asadi, the deputy head of the Iraqi parliamentary electricity and energy committee, revealed on Saturday an "exception” in Iraq’s- Turkmenistan gas agreement.
Al-Asadi stated to Shafaq News Agency that " the Iraqi government could sign a contract with Iran under an exception in the gas agreement with Turkmenistan,” which was signed last year. He explained that “the agreement stipulated that Iraq would buy gas from Turkmenistan, who would then supply gas to northern Iran, while Iraq would import gas from southern Iran.”
Furthermore, He said “the agreement would benefit Iraq and resolve the issue of paying for the gas imported from Iran, which faced US sanctions.” He added “the imported gas issue was not solved yet, and would be dealt with by finalizing the agreement with Turkmenistan.” “The importing gas will cover some of the electric power stations' needs.”
Iraq’s Minister of Electricity, Ziyad Ali Fadel, signed on 6/10/2023, a memorandum of understanding with the Turkmen Minister of State for Gas Affairs, to supply Iraq with gas.
Notably, Iraq relies on Iran for electricity and gas, which account for 33% to 40% of its energy needs. This is crucial, especially in the summer when the temperature can reach 50°C and the demand for power is high. Iraq faces difficulty in paying for those imports due to the US sanctions that allow Iran only to access money to buy goods not subject to sanctions such as food and medicine.
On November, 2023, Iraq and Turkmenistan agreed on a five-year gas deal, which specified the main conditions for buying Turkmen gas by Iraq. The deal involved Turkmenistan sending 9 billion cubic meters of gas to Iran every year, and Iran sending the same amount of gas to Iraq in return.