Parliamentary Energy: Iranian supply of Iraqi stations has been halved

[size=52]Parliamentary Energy: Iranian supply of Iraqi stations has been halved[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad/ Firas Adnan[/size]
[size=45]Yesterday, Wednesday, the Oil and Energy Committee in the House of Representatives called on the government to secure the electricity transmission towers before proceeding with the linkage project with the Gulf states and Jordan, stressing that the supply of Iranian fuel allocated to the stations has fallen to half its rates for many reasons, most notably the failure to pay previous debts, while criticizing the failure to exploit Iraqi gas, which amounts to 132 trillion cubic meters, within the licensing rounds.[/size]
[size=45]Member of the Committee, Representative Zahra Al-Bajari, said in a statement to (Al-Mada), that "the electricity has improved in relative terms as a result of the return of stations and towers to service after a complete shutdown that they were exposed to last week."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Bajari added, "Iraq is working to improve its electrical energy in the future by relying on the two lines of interconnection with the Gulf countries on the one hand, and Jordan all the way to Egypt on the other."[/size]
[size=45]She pointed out that "communication in the field of electricity with neighboring countries that have surplus capacity is a good thing and achieves positive results."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Bajari pointed out that “the government’s task in this regard is to protect the towers, because we may get energy from neighboring countries, but the continuation of the attacks will lead to the recurrence of the collapse of the electrical network.”[/size]
[size=45]And it called, "the Iraqi government to provide a sufficient number of security forces that provide complete protection for these towers and prevent them from being targeted again, especially those that pass in remote areas, before starting to link with the Gulf and Jordan."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Bajari spoke about “the return of Iranian gas to Iraqi stations, which is supposed to be 35 million cubic meters to the central region, and 17 million cubic meters to the southern region.”[/size]
[size=45]It stated, "What is obtained from gas did not reach half of these figures, and the reason is Iran's need for electric power, especially in the summer, as well as the issue of non-payment of previous debts."[/size]
[size=45]Earlier this week, Iran witnessed protests in a number of its cities to demand better electricity, and before that, its government stopped supplying Iraq with gas as a result of non-payment of previous debts.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Bajari explained, "The licensing rounds involve two paragraphs, the first is oil production and the second is gas investment, but the latter has not been implemented, and Iraq has continued to import gas that operates the stations from Iran."[/size]
[size=45]And she indicated, "Iraq has 132 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, which has not yet been invested in providing what the Iraqi stations need."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Bajari considered, "What is happening indicates the existence of corruption files in the investment of gas and oil industries facilities, and therefore we are counting today on neighboring countries to prepare what our stations need."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Bajari went on to “the importance of forming a joint operations room between the Ministry of Electricity, which has stations that operate on gas by 100%, and the Ministry of Oil, which must equip these stations with gas, and thus get rid of the costly import process.”[/size]
[size=45]For his part, Committee member MP Sadiq Al-Sulaiti said in a statement to (Al-Mada), that "communication with the Iranian side in order to restore gas to its previous status is still ongoing, and it is hoped that we will reach positive results soon."[/size]
[size=45]He added, "The more Iraq obtains gas in larger quantities, the more it will provide better processing hours than it is currently, as a result of operating more gas stations."[/size]
[size=45]He criticized, "Iraq's continued dependence on gas from neighboring countries at a time when Iraq has enormous natural wealth that helps it produce sufficient quantities to operate its electric stations."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Sulaiti continues, "The electricity situation has not returned to what it was before the general shutdown until the present time due to the continuation of maintenance operations, as well as the continued targeting of towers, especially in remote areas."[/size]
[size=45]On Wednesday, the Ministry of Electricity announced that the northern region's transmission lines had been suspended due to sabotage.[/size]
[size=45]And Al-Sulaiti added, "What happened last week of a complete shutdown in the electrical system indicates that there is no real and realistic plan to improve the status of the national system."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Sulaiti concluded, "It is not reasonable for Iraq to pay more than 82 billion dollars since 2006, and the file is still stagnating in its place without improvement."[/size]
[size=45]It is noteworthy that the electrical system in Iraq suffers from many problems and has not seen improvement over the past years, which generates continuous popular anger and demonstrations, especially in the summer.[/size]
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