Shafaq News/ Iraq has developed contingency plans to address potentialenergy shortages following the halt of Iranian gas supplies, including sourcingimports from Qatar, Oman, and Turkmenistan, a senior electricity ministryofficial said on Thursday.
"Previously, we only had imports from Iran, but there aregovernment directives and a political will to rely on multiple sources ofimports," said Saad Jassem, director general of the ministry’s fueldepartment, told AFP.
"We must consider the worst-case scenario -- if there is aninterruption, we have prepared alternatives," said Jassem, revealing thatQatar, as the region’s largest producer of natural gas, had expressedwillingness to supply Iraq with gas at preferential prices following multiplevisits by Iraqi officials.
"Oman is also an option," he added.
He noted that negotiations are ongoing to purchase gas fromTurkmenistan, which would be delivered via pipelines through Iran.
Iraq is also constructing two floating liquefied natural gas (LNG)terminals in the southern port of Khor al-Zubair, with plans to have themoperational by June, Jassim said.
These facilities, according to him, will have the capacity to processbetween 14 and 19 million cubic meters (500-700 million cubic feet) of gas perday,
"If we manage to set up a third unit we could hit 800 to 900million cubic feet," he added.
In 2024, Iraq and Iran renewed their gas import agreement for fiveyears, allowing for the purchase of up to 50 million cubic meters per day.