American doubts about Iraq’s ability to stop importing Iranian gas and talk of an “existential battl

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[size=52]American doubts about Iraq’s ability to stop importing Iranian gas and talk of an “existential battle”[/size]

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On Wednesday, the American website "Oil Price", which specializes in energy news, questioned Iraq's pledges to soon stop importing Iranian gas and Iraqi announcements about the imminent launch of new projects in the gas sector.[/size]
[size=45]Despite American skepticism, the report confirmed that “Iraq’s role could be pivotal in the existential battle currently taking place in the world for energy resources.”[/size]
[size=45]The report criticized statements by senior Iraqi oil officials that gas imports from Iran will stop soon, which are followed by seasoned oil industry observers and which, in their view, are merely reassurances that are always followed by mutterings about new gas projects scheduled to start soon, pipelines that will be extended, and the fulfillment of energy-related commitments. Green.[/size]
[size=45]The report continued its criticism, saying that they are “wonderful, evocative ideas that will certainly be welcomed by the US State Department. They also arouse collective optimism, but only for a while, before we remember that we heard all that before and that nothing has changed.”[/size]
[size=45]However, the report pointed out what is at great risk for any new major player entering the game in the global gas market, explaining that “there are widening divisions that have not been so clear between the Western and Eastern alliances since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the year 2022, which reflects the need to secure supplies.” Gas is long-term.[/size]
[size=45]He continued, saying, “Cheap gas supplies from Russia were the cornerstone on which most of Europe, especially the de facto European leader Germany, built its economic prosperity over the past two decades,” adding that “fears of the risk of losing these supplies were enough for these European powers to “It undermines any serious plans to punish Russia over its annexation of Crimea in 2014.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, "The rapid action by the United States and its main allies to secure alternative supplies of gas is what prevented the same diplomatic inaction after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022."[/size]
[size=45]Now, the report says, “Iraq’s role in this existential battle for global energy resources may be pivotal,” explaining that “it not only has the ability to become the first producer of crude oil in the world, and one of the largest exporters of gas as well, but its geopolitical location is important.” "It is critical to what is happening in the global security structure."[/size]
[size=45]While the report pointed out the loss of the United States to Saudi Arabia, which strengthened its closeness to China through multiple events, including its recent accession to the “BRICS” bloc, its move deeper into the “Shanghai Cooperation Organization,” and through the agreement to resume the relationship with Iran, all of which are moves. Brokered by Beijing, he continued, the other superpower in the Middle East, i.e. Iran, was also strengthened through its transformation into a proxy state for China through the “Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement between Iran and China for 25 years.”[/size]
[size=45]The report stated that the ongoing moves by the Western coalition to separate Iran from the Chinese-Russian bloc, by drafting a diluted version of the “nuclear agreement,” adding that the existing logic in Washington is that if it is possible to separate Iraq, which has been under the influence of Iran for a long time, Regarding Tehran, this will not only accelerate the signing of the new nuclear agreement with Iran, but it will also mean that the Western coalition will have two of the three largest oil and gas exporting countries in the Middle East under its influence.[/size]
[size=45]The report considered that the French “Total Energies” company currently stands at the forefront of the Western coalition’s efforts to win over Iraq, through the huge, four-pronged deal, which is worth 27 billion US dollars, despite the fact that the company faces great challenges at every level. Oil and gas bureaucracy in Iraq. However, the report believed that strengthening the presence of other major Western companies in Iraq would contribute to enhancing their chances of success.[/size]
[size=45]He added, “Such efforts, at least on the surface, are encouraged by Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani, who recently said that Iraq will stop gas imports from Iran within two years after giant projects are formed to develop its gas facilities.”[/size]
[size=45]However, the report stated that these words are the same as what former Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi said when he went to Washington in May 2020 to request more money to support the corruption-afflicted economy, and to also request a 120-day exemption from the sanctions to continue importing gas and electricity from Iran. He added that as soon as the United States provided financing and exemption, deposited the money in banks and Al-Kadhimi returned safely to his lands, Iraq signed a two-year contract with Iran to continue importing gas and electricity.[/size]
[size=45]The report also stated that Sudanese announced last July that Iraq intends to pay for its oil supplies in exchange for the gas and electricity it imports from Iran because Iraq has no choice but to start paying for Iranian gas and electricity imports with Iraqi oil because the US sanctions on Iran have made it difficult Baghdad must make payments through traditional banking mechanisms.[/size]
[size=45]However, the report considered that Iraq could end its dependence on gas from Iran relatively easily if it really wanted to, noting that the total proven natural gas reserves in Iraq amount to about 131 trillion cubic feet, and thus Iraq occupies 12th place in the world, and it may be Its gas reserves are much larger than that, because the level of exploration for gas reserves is not equal to the rate of oil exploration.[/size]
[size=45]After he mentioned that the Iraqi Ministry of Oil had an agreement with the giant American engineering company “Baker Hughes” to seize the gas associated with the oil from the Gharraf and Nasiriyah oil fields, he pointed out that the plans related to Nasiriyah included the beginning of processing the gas to generate more than 100 million standard cubic meters, then developing the Nasiriyah plant. To become a complete LNG facility capable of recovering 200 million cubic feet per day of dry gas, liquefied gas and condensates, a production that was supposed to go to the local power generation sector.[/size]
[size=45]He continued that Baker Hughes had reported that processing the burned gas from these two fields would allow 400 megawatts of energy to be provided to the Iraqi network.[/size]
[size=45]The report found that if Baker Hughes had been allowed to continue implementing the project, it would have taken about 30 months to implement, adding that it would have then been possible to implement similar development plans for other major gas detention sites, which in 2018 and 2020 included the Halfaya field (300). million cubic feet per day), and Artawi field (400 million cubic feet per day).[/size]
[size=45]He noted that it was then possible to develop interconnections with the only major gas project that has achieved significant progress in Iraq over the years, which is the Basra Gas Company (BGC) project, which is managed by Shell.[/size]
[size=45]He concluded by saying that at the present time, little progress has been made in any of these projects, and therefore it remains to be seen whether Al-Sudani’s recent statements will change this situation.[/size]
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