The National Iranian Gas Company or NIGC has decreased natural gas exports to Iraq, local reports have quoted the head of NIGC’s Dispatching Department as saying.
The decision is said to be based on an agreement with Iraq, and apparently follows prior notification.
The local reports quoted NIGC’s Dispatching Department head Mohammadreza Jolaei as saying: “Natural gas exports to Iraq have decreased to 38 million cubic meters per day.”
He added: “This reduction has been done according to a six-month agreement with the Iraqi side and has nothing to do with their gas dues to Iran, although settling their debts is still on the agenda.”
Jolaei also said Iran had notified the Iraqi side about this reduction two weeks ago.
He added that this amount of export cut would continue for up to six months, according to their agreement.
Iran used to export about 40-45 million cubic meters of natural gas to Iraq on a daily basis, and its debts to Iran reduced natural gas exports to Iraq in December last year, according to the NIGC head Hassan Montazer Torbati.
The NIGC dispatching director, however, emphasizes that although some of these debts remain unpaid, the decrease in exports was not due to Iraq’s debt to Iran and was done in accordance with an agreement with the country.
Back in December 2020, Iran slashed the amount of gas sent to its neighbor to five million cubic meters.