SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraqi oil ministry said on Thursday Baghdad could import Egyptian gas through Syria, according to state news agency INA, as it looks for alternatives to buying fuel from neighboring Iran.
Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar met with his Syrian counterpart Bassam Tohme in Baghdad on Thursday.
The two officials discussed cooperation and the extend to which the “abundance of Egyptian gas can be utilized and transported across the Syrian territories,” the Iraqi oil ministry said in a statement.
Syria is connected to Egypt through the Arab Gas Pipeline, which stretches across 1,200 kilometers.
The pipeline has been used less frequently due to militant attacks on the infrastructure passing through the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, according to the National News.
Iraq buys gas and electricity from Iran to supply about a third of its power sector, worn down by years of conflict and poor maintenance and unable to meet the needs of the country’s 40 million population.
Iraq’s daily consumption during peak hours of winter reaches around 19,000 megawatts while the country generates around 11,000 megawatts, replying on imports to fill the gap, according to the Iraqi ministry.
The United States has insisted that oil-rich Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest producer, moves towards self-sufficiency as a condition for its exemption to import Iranian energy, yet Baghdad has struggled to do so, in part due to low oil prices.
