Baghdad –INA
Iraqi Electricity Minister Ali Saadi Waheeb said during a meeting with U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy James Danly on Tuesday that Iraq is seeking to maintain and expand its partnership with the world's leading energy companies.
Waheeb said in a statement followed by the Iraqi News Agency (INA):"We held a joint meeting in Washington with the Iraqi oil minister and U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy James Danly, during which we discussed ways to strengthen cooperation between Iraq and the United States in the energy sector. We reaffirmed Iraq's desire to maintain and expand its partnership with major global energy companies, foremost among them GE, in a way that supports the development of the electricity sector and adds new power generation capacity.
"We also explained that implementing expansion projects depends on securing the necessary fuel supplies and diversifying gas import sources to ensure the sustainable operation of power plants and improve the efficiency of the national electricity system."
He added that "the meeting also underscored the importance of U.S. support for Iraq's request to import natural gas from Turkmenistan as one of the key options for diversifying gas supplies and strengthening energy security."
"Securing these supplies would help restart power plants that are currently idle or operating below capacity due to gas shortages, while adding new generation capacity to the national grid, thereby improving electricity supply to citizens," he said.
Meanwhile, Oil Minister Bassem Mohammed Khudair Al-Abadi held talks with U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy James Danly on prospects for expanding bilateral cooperation in the energy sector.
The Oil Ministry said in a statement followed by the Iraqi News Agency (INA) that Al-Abadi met with Danly in the presence of Electricity Minister Ali Saadi Waheeb, Basra Oil Company Director General Bassem Abdul Karim, and State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) Director General Ali Nizar.
The statement added that the two sides held discussions on prospects for strengthening cooperation between Iraq and the United States in the energy sector.