Iraq
has
signed a deal with its former Gulf War foe
Iran
to import
Iranian natural gas to feed its power plants near
Baghdad
in a
step aimed at easing the country's electricity shortages, an Iraqi government
spokesman said Monday.
Under the four-year deal signed in
Baghdad
Sunday night,
Baghdad
will
buy some 850 million cubic feet a day of Iranian natural gas at international
prices to feed two power plants in a northeastern suburb of
Baghdad
to
generate 2,500 megawatts, said Mussab al-Mudaris, a spokesman for the Iraqi
ministry of electricity.
The gas will be fed through a pipeline that is expected to be completed in two
months from now. The pipeline will be crossing
Iraq
from
Iran
through Diayla province east of the Iraqi capital
Baghdad
, Mr.
al-Mudaris said.
He said that some 90% of work on the pipeline has been completed.
The deal was signed in
Baghdad
by
Iraqi electricity minister Kareem al-Jumaili and Iranian oil minister Rostam
Qasemi, he added.
For
Iran
, the
deal would mark another important market as it struggles under international
economic sanctions imposed on the Islamic state for pursuing a nuclear program.
Iraq
,
which starts an ambitious program to develop its gas fields, doesn't produce
enough gas to feed its power stations. The country produces only half of its
power need which is estimated at 15,000 megawatts.
Iraq
also
imports around 1,000 megawatts from
Iran
.
Power outages have prompted anti-government demonstrations over the last few
weeks in Shiite-dominated governorates in southern
Iraq
where
summer heat could reach over 50 Celsius.
Iraq
and
Iran
fought an eight-year war in the 1980s during the rule of the then president
Saddam Hussein. Following Saddam's regime fall in 2003 in an operation led by
U.S.
forces,
Baghdad
and
Tehran
have
developed close ties under the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki despite concerns by his opponents, Washington and its Arab allies,
including
Saudi Arabia
, over
Iran
's
expanding influence in the region.
Tehran
has been accused of financing and training Iraqi
Shiite militiamen who had launched attacks against Iraqis and
U.S.
forces before they withdrew from
Iraq
in
2011. Iran
denies these charges.