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US grants Iraq another waiver for Iranian energy
iraq
WaSHINGTON has granted Iraq another 90-day waiver to continue importing gas and electricity from Iran, three days before the pre- vious waiver expired.
The dispensation is the fourth granted to Baghdad since November 2018, when the US re-imposed sanctions on Iran upon its with- drawal from the 2015 Joint comprehensive Plan of action (JcPOa).
e news comes just in time for Iraq, which is reliant on 10.3 bcm per year of Iranian gas for power generation as well as importing 1,300 MW of electricity from the neighbouring country.
Speaking during a visit to Washington in late March, Iraqi parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi said: “Hopefully this waiver will be extended until Iraq can stand on its feet eco- nomically.” He added that Iraq would continue needing Iranian gas and electricity until 2022, when the country anticipates having su ciently expanded its own generation capacity.
e combination of a lack of domestic gas production and de cient electricity infrastruc- ture has caused shortages and public anger, erupting in mid-2018 into violent protests.
after lengthy negotiations, compounded by security problems near the border, imports of Iranian gas began only recently, with Iraq receiving around half of the 10.3 bcm per year contracted in 2017 and covering 10-15% of the
power generation sector’s requirements. However, in February Royal Dutch Shell’s local subsidiary announced that it had taken a nal investment decision (FID) the month pre- vious for Basrah Gas co. (BGc) to go ahead with the next phase of the so-called South Gas Utilisa-
tion Project (SGUP).
e latest stage of the project, in which the
super-major is the main international share- holder, is aimed at increasing the volumes of associated gas processed by 40%.
BGc is a JV comprising Shell with 44%, Japan’s Mitsubishi with 5% and state-owned South Gas co. (SGc) with the remaining 51%. It was established in 2013 to implement the esti- mated US$17.5 billion scheme to treat and dis- tribute gas from the Rumaila, West qurna 1 and Zubair oil elds.
a statement from the Ministry of Oil on Feb- ruary 12 celebrating the FID noted the project’s importance to secure power supplies and “stop the external imports of gas”. It said that 60% of gas nationwide which would otherwise have been ared was now being processed.
e latest phase of SGUP investment is aimed at increasing the volume of gas processed by 4.1 bcm per year – from around 10.8 bcm at the end of last year – through the so-called Basrah NGL project. is entails the installation of a two-train gas-processing plant at al-Ratawi.™
Bloomberg reporters face jail for story on Turkish lira crisis
turKey
US-BaSED Bloomberg news agency says Turk- ishprosecutorsareseekingjailtermsofupto ve years for two of its Istanbul-based reporters over their reporting on last year’s currency crisis, e associated Press reported on June 14.
according to Bloomberg, Kerim Karakaya and Fercan Yalinkilic have been accused of attempting to undermine Turkey’s economic stability with a story they wrote in august 2018. It added that prosecutors have charged 36 others for social media comments they made on the story because they deemed them to be critical of Turkey’s economy. e article was about the e ects of a sharp decline in the Turkish lira and how authorities and banks were responding.
Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Mickleth- wait condemned the indictment. He defended
the reporters for reporting “fairly and accurately onnewsworthyevents”.
He added that the agency will “support them throughout this ordeal”.
e rst hearing of the trial is scheduled for September 20.
Turkey has for three straight years been the world’s biggest jailer of journalists. In april, Turkey placed 157th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index 2019 compiled by Reporters Without Borders, two places down on where it nished in the previous year’s ranking.
“Witch-hunt”
e country has seen the “witch-hunt waged by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government against its media critics... come to a head since
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