Energy balancing in Iraq?

Ahmed Al-Hathal
 
02/03/2022

Ahmed Al-Hathal

The planned budget for the energy sector (oil - electricity - the dues of the Basra Gas Company) amounted to about (33.3) trillion dinars in the year (2021), and it constituted as a percentage of total spending about (25%), and the budget of the Ministry of Electricity amounted to about (17) trillion, most of which was Current if it reaches about (14.3) trillion dinars, of which (13.5) trillion is under the item of commodity requirements. As for capital, from the total, about (2.6) trillion dinars, and the budget of the Ministry of Oil amounted to about (15.1) trillion, most of which are dues for extractive oil companies included in the capital budget and amounted to about (13.6) trillion, and the current oil budget amounted to about (2.5) trillion dinars.

The problem of electric power in Iraq is represented in the asymmetry of demand and supply, especially in peak times, as Iraq needs approximately (28) gigawatts, i.e. (28000) megawatts, which is available in peak times, with the total energy import not reaching nearly (18) gigawatts, i.e. (18000) ) megawatts,

3) A trillion, while it can be noted that the German company Siemens in the year (2018) offered Iraq a roadmap agreement to develop the electricity sector with a value of approximately (15) billion dollars, and in the year (2019) it was agreed with the two parties, as a first stage, to award contracts worth (700) ) million euros, which includes the construction of a gas-powered power plant with a capacity of (500) megawatts in the Zubaidiya area, the construction of more than (13) stations and the supply of (40) gas turbines using cooling systems, and it pledged to provide more than (25) gigawatts (25,000) megawatts, i.e. 89%) of Iraq’s need for electric power at peak times, and the amount with the German Siemens is close to the budget of the Ministry of Electricity for the year (2021) only and not for all years of the general budget, so why did this agreement not continue?! The experience of Egypt and its agreement with Siemens is not far away. Within (3) years, the company was able to build three stations, the largest in the company’s history. Siemens signed a deal worth (7.

The problem of electricity is in large part an international and regional political one. Its motives are first, financial and administrative corruption, and secondly, the failure to implement economic development plans and the disruption of the agricultural and industrial sectors so that the economy remains exposed to its foreign trade, which has a rate of openness of about (70%), and thirdly, social as a A blazing fire every summer peak to ignite the Iraqi street.

Iraq needs a specialized company that deals with the electricity problem radically, starting with structuring this sector as a whole, developing the current energy and building additional stations to start the correct production process, and then addressing the transmission and distribution networks and dealing with energy losses. Its outputs, for example, are (20) megawatts, and here the energy sector loses about (10) megawatts, in addition to that, processing and structuring the Ministry of Electricity and making it one of the (profitable) holding companies and setting up a system for collecting energy outputs, provided that the ministry provides capacities to meet local demand in order to dispense with private generators and achieving self-sufficiency in this sector.

Economic Researcher

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