Iran Could Begin Supplying Gas to Iraq by May

Iran could begin supplying natural gas to Iraq by May this year, Tasnim News Agency quoted a senior official as saying.

Azizollah Ramezani, director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) for international affairs announced on Saturday that about six to seven kilometers of the pipeline is yet to be laid on the Iraqi side of the border.

He also pointed to the security challenges facing the strategic pipeline on the Iraqi side of the border, saying that the Iraqi officials have already pledged to take necessary measures to secure the gas exports to the Arab country by May 2015, Tasnim News Agency reported. 

Iranian and Iraqi oil ministers in July last year signed the first deal to transfer Iran’s natural gas to two Iraqi power plants. The project is aimed at supplying Al-Baghdad and Al-Mansouriyah power plants in Iraq with 25 million cubic meters (mcm) per day of natural gas.