Iraq faces critical gas shortage as Middle East war cuts vital imports

Iraq's power stations that rely on imports need more than double the gas that is available, the electricity ministry spokesperson Ahmed Moussa said in the ministry's Facebook post April 26.

Imports of gas do not exceed 15 million cubic meters a day currently, as the war in neighboring Iran has forced it to slash gas exports to Iraq, the spokesperson said.

"Power plants that rely on imported gas require approximately 50 million cubic meters daily," he said.

Iran, which also supplies gas to Turkey, halted deliveries to Iraq in late December, resulting in about 4,000-4,500 MW of losses to the Iraqi grid, though limited flows resumed at the end of February. Iran and Iraq renewed their gas contract in 2024, allowing for imports of up to 50 MMcm/d by Iraq.

Local gas production in Iraq has also fallen off as pumping from oil fields has been curtailed due to the war, Moussa said. Iraq's oil fields produce vast quantities of associated gas, some of which is captured and used for power generation.

Iraq plans to construct an LNG import platform at Khor Al-Zubair, with the LNG to be used for power generation, but the spokesperson said in the April 26 post that the project's implementation may be disrupted because of the Strait of Hormuz tensions. The floating LNG platform is now expected to begin operations in June 2027, the electricity ministry said April 27 in a statement carried by state news outlet INA. Initially, operations were set to begin this summer.

The platform should be ready in time to help handle peak summer demand, providing a processing capacity ranging from 500 MMcm/d to 750 MMcm/d, the ministry said.