Iraq confirms to allow transit of Iran gas to Syria

DJ reported that Iraq confirmed that it has told its neighbor Iran that it is ready to allow the transit of Iranian natural gas destined for Syria and Mediterranean countries.

Mr Kareem Al Luaby senior deputy oil minister of Iraq said that the Iraqi oil and power ministers declared that the Iraqi government has permitted Iran’s gas transit to Syria and Mediterranean states.

Mr Javad Oji MD of the National Iranian Gas Company said that the project would need a pipeline with a daily capacity of 110 million meters to go through Iraq before reaching Syria and Mediterranean countries respectively.

Meantime, an Iraqi oil official said that a delegation from the Iranian oil ministry was in Baghdad 2 weeks ago and met with Al Luaby and other senior officials in the Iraqi oil ministry. The official, however, said that he wasn’t informed about the outcome of the meetings.

Earlier, another Iraqi oil ministry official said that such a decision would need to be made by the Iraqi parliament. In addition to that, we don’t have the infrastructure to transit Iranian gas to other countries.

Iraq, which has the fifth highest gas reserves in the region, is trying to hold a bidding round for three major gas fields with the aim of exporting half of the produced gas. However, international companies have been complaining that Iraq hasn’t got the infrastructure to export its gas.

Iran holds the world’s second largest reserves of gas. But plans to develop LNG schemes have been hit by the reluctance of Western oil companies to invest in them because of the sanctions imposed by Western countries on the Persian state as a result of its endeavor to acquire nuclear energy.