Iraqi Ministry of Electricity reveals the cause of increased Power rationing

Shafaq News / The Iraqi Ministry of Electricity attributed on Tuesday the increased power outages in Iraq to the further reduction of gas supplies from Iran.

The Ministry's spokesman, Ahmed Moussa, said in an interview with Shafaq News agency, "Iraq has contracts with the Iranian side to supply electrical production stations by 50 million cubic feet of gas," indicating, "Iran has reduced gas supplies to 5 million cubic feet after it was 10 million cubic feet a few days ago."

Moussa added, "the shortage in the supply had an impact on the production of electricity, as the system lost between 5 to 6 thousand megawatts, which in turns negatively affected the power supply hours."

Moussa added, "after the prime minister directed the Ministry of Oil to provide liquid fuel instead of gaseous fuel, the available product does not match the shortfall for operating and sustaining the production plants' momentum. Moreover, liquid fuel is costly and needs to be imported in the absence of a fuel plan."

Rationing the power in the capital, Baghdad, and other Iraqi governorates have increased dramatically recently. Over the past two months, power outages in some areas have reached more than 18 hours per day, prompting private generators to raise prices as a result.