Iraqi Power Crisis Kickstarts Iran Gas Pipe

摘要

Week-long protests in Iraq over lack of jobs and basic services, electricity chief among them, have revived a stalled project to pipe 880 million cubic feet per day (9 billion cubic meters per year) of Iranian gas to power stations in Baghdad, sources tell WGI. Despite a string of Iranian statements in recent months suggesting start-up was imminent, Iraqi sources had been insisting that the pipeline, which crosses war-torn Diyala province, would not go ahead until security improved. Sources said another obstacle was the hefty sales price, estimated at around $11 per million Btu when the deal was sealed in 2013. The oil-linked price will since have dropped, as oil prices were around $100 per barrel at the time, but is still high in Middle East terms (WGI Mar. 12'14).