Iraq’s Electricity Industry Active With Iranian Gas
IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK
TEHRAN – On the sidelines of a meeting, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh referred to the purchase of Iranian gas by Iraq and said that using Iranian gas is very economical for Iraq because natural gas replaces diesel, which is more than twice the price of the gas.
When asked the question that the Iraqi Minister of Oil has stated that its country does not need Iranian gas and will cut it off in the future, Zanganeh replied: “No, they have not said such a thing. They have signed contracts for gas production in Iraq because Iraq has the capacity to produce gas and can use it anyway, but this is time-consuming and now Iraqis are willing to receive a lot of gas from Iran.”
Zanganeh also mentioned in his meeting with people about renting foreign boats and said: “The Ministry of Oil has generally banned the leasing of foreign vessels and has given priority to leasing domestically built vessels.”
Regarding Iran’s gasoline reserves, the oil minister said: “Iran’s gasoline reserves had reached more than 5 billion liters in May, but now they have decreased due to exports.”
Zanganeh went on to say that in months of Ordibehesht and Khordad, the amount of stored gasoline hit 5b liters but currently due to exports, the figure has decreased and everything is getting normal.
He further said that developing CNG industry for the public transportation was another issue which was discussed in the meeting, reiterating that CNG is a priority for the ministry.
Zanganeh added that talks with knowledge-based companies for manufacturing equipment and offering services have started.
He emphasized that the ministry is determined to stop imports if the domestic-made equipment is high quality, and it is the policy which is pursued in any section of the ministry.
He further said competition is a main factor for improving the quality, admitting that currently the number of foreign companies in the country is insignificant and there is no high competition in the country which is not good at all but this is a good opportunity for growth of domestic companies.
Zanganeh noted that all needed equipment by the oil ministry, which is domestically-made, is studied by the related bodies and in case its quality is verified the purchase, import of its similar foreign-made counterpart will be banned.
Establishing the organization for issuing quality certificate was a major move which started two weeks ago, and this organization assures consumers of the quality of the domestic-made goods and their standards which are needed by the oil industry, the minister added.
