Iraq’s deputy prime minister on August 21 said that the country might reduce imports of natural gas and electricity from Iran after it can implement multi-billion deals with US companies and attract investments from Saudi Arabia. The US has been urging Iraq to ease its reliance on energy imports from Iran. Electricity shortages in Iraq led to deadly protests as temperature surged to 50 degrees Celsius in previous peak summer months.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi visited Washington last week and signed multiple energy deals with US companies worth $8 billion. Including in the deals, Honeywell will help Iraq in developing the Ar-Ratawi gas project, which will allow the country to process domestic gas output to meet its energy demand. Baker Hughes will also be involved in deploying US oil field services and equipment in Iraq as well as converting flare gas into power.
At the same time, OPEC’s second-largest producer is seeking to lure Saudi investments and connect its electricity grid to the Gulf power network through the kingdom and Kuwait. In 2019, Iraq and the Gulf Cooperation Council agreed on the power interconnection which also included imports of 500 MW of electricity through Kuwait. According to a statement, this agreement is worth more than $1.2 billion.
