Iraq is in advanced talks with Excelerate Energy Inc. to facilitate its first-ever liquefied natural gas imports as the country, which struggles with power outages, seeks to cut dependence on Iran for supplies.
Texas-based Excelerate is one of several companies to have submitted a bid to provide an LNG import ship and secure supplies of the fuel, said Ali Salman, acting director general for the state-run South Gas Co., which has been charged with overseeing the development of the project. An Excelerate representative declined to comment.
Iraq’s push to buy LNG comes as the country halted electricity imports from neighboring Iran earlier this year after the US ended a sanction waiver ordered by President Donald Trump to tighten pressure on Tehran. Gas imports from Iran have since continued and weren’t affected by the US and Israeli strikes on Iran’s energy sites this month, although this highlighted the fragility of the supply route.
Gas Supplies
Iraq, OPEC’s second-biggest oil producer, doesn’t have enough gas to operate its mostly gas-fired power plants and suffers from crippling blackouts every summer when demand peaks. It’s also been trying to reduce the amount of wastful gas flaring from its own fields, and has been looking at buying LNG for years as a way to fill the shortages.
The US has urged Iraq to diversify the origins of its gas imports, and Baghdad signed an agreement with Turkmenistan last year for gas supplies. Iraq has been in talks with Qatar and others to find more solutions, Farhad Alaaldin, an adviser on foreign affairs to Iraq’s prime minister, said on March 12.
Iraq receives Iranian natural gas from two pipelines, but flows have been interrupted several times in recent years. In 2023, Iran cut volumes in half because of unpaid bills, which Baghdad said arose due to US sanctions on Iran.
Iraq’s oil ministry has completed a project to extend an existing gas pipeline to the Khor Al-Zubair commodities port on the Gulf, where the floating storage and regasification unit will be moored. The installations will connect the regasified LNG to the Iraqi gas network.
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