TEHRAN - Iran will partially restore natural gas supplies to Iraq within the next two days, according to a report published in the Iraqi media , as the country is emerging from a cold snap that caused a major increase in domestic demand for heating and forced cuts to exports last month.
Iraqi government sources told Arabic-language Baghdad Today website on Sunday that Iran is expected to restore at least 7 million cubic meters (mcm) per day of natural gas exports to Iraq via a pipeline that passes through the Iraqi province of Diyala on February 6-7.
The sources said that Iran had been forced to cut gas exports to Iraq to zero on January 26 because of an unprecedented cold snap that caused a significant increase in domestic gas consumption.
The sources said the restored gas supply from Iran will be entirely delivered to the Bismayah power plant near the capital Baghdad to help ease electricity shortages in the city.
However, they said the power plant will need some 21 mcm per day of natural gas to be able to run at full capacity.
Iran supplied around 27 mcm per day of natural gas to Iraq via the Diyala pipeline before the cuts were imposed in late January.
That comes as exports to Iraq via another pipeline had also declined last month while similar cuts were imposed to Iranian gas supplies to Turkey due to problems in Iran’s domestic network.
Indusrty sources said earlier this week that Iranian natural gas exports to Iraq and Turkey had fallen by at least 75% or some 46 mcm per day last month.