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Japan is ready to boost cooperation and projects in Iraq’s energy sector including rebuilding Iraqi nuclear reactor(s), Hussain Shahristani, Iraqi deputy prime minister for energy,has  told reporters.

Shahristani reportedly said after his meeting with the Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister, Akihiro Ohata, in Baghdad, "we discussed the issue of reconstruction of the nuclear reactor(s) in Iraq... and the Japanese expressed their interest in that. Iraq will study the possibilities of developing its peaceful nuclear industry."

A joint statement was issued after the meeting calling on the two countries to reinforce economic cooperation in areas including postwar reconstruction, oil development and electricity generation in Iraq. Feasibility studies have already started to build an electricity generation station in Iraq, according to the statement.

Additionally, Japan will send a trade delegation to Iraq next month to discuss cooperation in the energy and transportation sectors.

This is the first visit to Iraq by a Japanese Cabinet minister since the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) took power in September 2009. Arab diplomats in Tokyo told PanOrient News that the DPJ "has not given Arab countries the attention they used to get from Liberal Democratic Party."

The Ministry of Electricity in Baghdad, in cooperation with consulting firm Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB), will present Iraq’s Long Term Electricity Master Plan at a 2-day conference in Istanbul on 1st and 2nd February, 2011.

The 2010 – 2030 Long Term Master Plan, prepared by joint teams from Parsons Brinckerhoff and the Ministry of Electricity's Planning and Studies Department, provides a long term road map for the future expansion of Iraq’s electricity program. The Master Plan Conference will present the findings and recommendations of the master plan report. Attendees will have the opportunity to interact with Ministry of Electricity and Parsons Brinckerhoff teams to discuss the latest issues facing the power sector in Iraq.

The Master Plan Conference has been organised in partnership with the US Embassy-Baghdad and is open to all interested parties.  Registration and attendance is free. More information and registration details are available at: http://www.iraqelectricitymasterplan.com.

Jeff Larkin, project director for Parsons Brinckerhoff’s role on the master plan, comments, “Development of this master plan has been a huge joint effort on the part of both PB and the Ministry of Electricity and has resulted in a detailed and comprehensive study and analysis of the many issues facing the power sector in Iraq. I’m confident the conference will be informative and constructive for attendees.”

Iraq's Ministry of Electricity has today issued a tender for the supply of 132KV cables.

Please click here to download details (in Arabic only).

The closing date for the receipt of bids is 26th January.

Iraq plans to almost triple power generation capacity to 17,000 MW by 2013, mostly through building new plants, Masaab Serri, an Electricity Ministry spokesman, told Bloomberg.

Iraq plans to invite bids later this year for the construction of three power plants to boost output by 1,500 megawatts, he said on Tuesday.

One plant is to be built in the Najibiyeh region in the southern oil hub of Basra, and two others in Nasiriyah and Haidariya in the central region of Najaf.

Iraq, holder of the world's fifth-largest oil reserves, is struggling to raise power supplies, which are currently at about 6,000 megawatts, or half of its domestic demand of about 12,000 MW, Serri said. Demand is expected to increase by at least 8% in 2012, he said.

Former Electricity Minister, Karim Wahid, quit in June amid violent street protests triggered by severe seasonal summer power shortages. Wahid said at the time that his efforts to overcome the problem had been thwarted by a lack of funding and fuel. Iraqis currently receive power from the national grid for an average of about one in every five hours.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki pledged after forming his new government last month to address the electricity problem which is causing social problems and hurting economic activity.

Due to US sanctions, Iraq has been unable to pay Iran millions of dollars owed for electricity, an Iraqi official said, potentially damaging its efforts to supply enough power to a population suffering chronic shortages.

According to the report from Reuters, Adel Mahdi, an adviser to the electricity ministry, said on Wednesday that Iraq imports 650 megawatts of electricity from Iran and plans to boost imports to around 1,000 MW this year.

But due to US sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear programme, foreign banks have refused to transfer at least $200 million of overdue payments to Iran, raising fears among Iraqi officials that a cheap and vital power supply could be cut ahead of the sizzling Iraqi summer.

"I fear an indirect effect, that by summer maybe the debt on us will be half a billion (dollars) and at that time they (Iran) have peak demand... they could say 'we will have to eliminate the contract and stop'," Mahdi said in an interview.

"That would cause a very big problem to Iraq."

He said last year Iraq's peak power supply was about 6,500-7,000 MW, and demand was estimated at 14,000 MW during the summer when temperatures frequently exceed 50 Celsius and air conditioning units run constantly.

In 2011, supply is expected to rise to around 8,000 MW as new power plants and turbines go online.

But demand is also expected to increase to more than 15,000 MW as the country rebuilds an economy and infrastructure damaged by war, Mahdi said.

"The demand is still rising at high levels, the annual demand growth is around 8 to 10 percent," he said, "... which means this year... the shortfall will remain at around 50 percent."

Additional generation would remain limited in 2012 but people would start noticing a large increase the following year, he said.

(Source: Reuters)

Iraq signed deals worth $52 million with France's Schneider Electric and Areva to build 15 power distribution stations in the southern oil hub of Basra, the province's deputy governor, Ahmed Hameed, said on Sunday.

Schneider Electric, has won a $29 million contract to build eight distribution stations, while Areva was awarded a $23 million deal to build seven plants.

The projects would be financed by the province's share in oil revenue and don't need the approval of the Ministry of Electricity in Baghdad.

The province is also in talks with a Saudi private company to supply it with power turbines that could provide an extra 150 megawatts, Hameed said.

Last summer, days of protests in the Shi'ite south, including Basra, over crippling power cuts forced the then electricity minister to step down.

The national grid usually allocates 950 MW of power to Basra, but in case of any technical failure, the supply could fall to less than half of that amount, which is not enough to cover its needs, said Hameed.

Iraq plans to boost power capacity to 27,000 MW in four years and would need to invest at least $3 billion to $4 billion per year to reach that target.

(Sources: Bloomberg, Reuters)

Iraqi State Minister, Ali al-Dabbagh, said Iraq agreed to build pipelines across its shared border with Jordan to increase supplies of oil to its western neighbour, according to a report from Bloomberg.

The countries also agreed to discuss development of the Risha natural-gas field along their common border, the minister told a news conference in Baghdad on Monday.

“Iraq and Jordan have agreed in principle to build a pipeline network to carry crude oil to the refinery in Zarqa,” a town to the northeast of the Jordanian capital Amman, he said after talks in Baghdad between Jordanian Prime Minister, Samir Rifai, and his Iraqi counterpart Nuri al-Maliki.

In 2008, the two countries signed a three-year agreement to supply Jordan with 10,000 barrels of Iraqi oil at a discount of $22 per barrel less than the international market price. The amount covers about 10% of Jordan's energy needs of around 100,000 bpd.

The proposed pipeline marks another step in Iraq’s effort to rebuild and reintegrate itself into the regional economy, after suffering for years from war and sanctions. Iraq’s government plans early this year to invite bids for the construction of oil and gas pipelines into Syria, to complement its existing export link for crude terminating at the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, Turkey.

The Kurdistan Region’s director for electric power generation said a new 125MW electricity power plant will get underway in Dohuk province in the next few days.

Diyar Baban told AKnews that he expects it to “considerably” reduce the Region’s power deficiency.

Kurdistan demands 2,200 MW whereas currently all its plants can output nearly half of the volume, 1,200 MW, according to Baban.

The Kurdish electricity officials announced in December 2010 the construction of three new hydro-electronic plants for the Region will get underway in March.

(Source: AKnews)

A total 201 projects costing 90 billion Iraqi dinars (IQD) [$77m] were finalized in Missan within the Provincial Development Budget (PDB) for the year 2010, according to the deputy governor on Saturday.

“There were 61 municipal projects, 29 water projects, 24 for sanitary sewage, seven for electricity, four for communications, three for each of reconstruction, housing and Shiite Endowment, two for each of youths & sports and health as well as 33 direct projects and 18 in different fields,” Khalid Abdulwahid Kabyan told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

The central government in Baghdad had allocated 90 billion Iraqi dinars in 2010 within the PDB, 70 billion dinars within the marshes development projects and 50 billion dinars within the petrodollar project.

(Source: Aswat al-Iraq)

The Maysan [Missan] Provincial Council allocated more than $42 million [49 billion Iraqi dinars] for the development of the province’s marshlands for 2011, a local official said on Thursday.

“The ministry of state for the marshes’ affairs have allocated the sum of 49.900 billion dinars to set up service projects in the eastern and western marshlands in Missan,” Jasseb Kadhem Himdan, the chairman of the council’s marshes development committee, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“The projects focus on health, housing, education, electricity and communications ,” he added.

He pointed out that the ministry, during 2010, spent 70 billion dinars to refurbish the Missan wetlands, adding some 178 projects were carried out in the spheres of housing, agriculture, water resources, education, roads, electricity, water, sanitation, health, communications and social development.

The marshes in southern Iraq, the largest and oldest in the world, play a key environmental role in housing of indigenous and migrant birds. They cover an area of between 15,000 and 25,000 square kilometers.

With a population of about 500,000 people, the marshlands shrank by one-tenth during the former regime’s time after all river courses were altered and dams were built to cut them into parts, a matter that prompted most of their inhabitants to emigrate.

(Source: Aswat al-Iraq)