Page 60 - IRANRptDec21

9.1.13 Utilities sector news
Iraq ‘stands ready to pay Iran billions of dollars in gas, electricity debts’
Iran reportedly to supply desalination equipment to Kazakhstan for plant on Caspian Sea coast
Crypto mining ‘delivering Iran over $1bn in annual revenue’
Iraq stands ready to pay gas and electricity debts owed to Iran, the Iraqi electricity ministry said on November 29, according to Baghdad al-Yawm news agency.
Tensions have risen over the debts, which some Iranian officials have described as between $6bn and $7bn, with Iraq pointing to the US freezing Iran out of the international financial system as the obstacle to transferring the required sums. There have also been local reports of Baghdad offering to pay Tehran in Iraqi dinar, a proposal said to have been rejected outright by the Iranians, who stuck to their demand for remuneration in dollars. Some monies that become owed for imports of Iranian gas and electricity are paid off with bartered goods.
Musa was further reported as saying that Iran's gas exports to Iraq were running at less than a fifth of what they should be, while electricity exports from Iran were presently completely cut off. During the summer, when Iran faced severe power shortages, there was a feeling in Iraq that when faced by an electricity deficit, the Iranians were quick to stop power exports to their neighbour. Many Iraqis suffered prolonged periods in unbearable heat with no electricity for air conditioning or fans.
"The ministry of electricity is ready to pay back its debts to Iran based on the agreement of delegations that previously visited Tehran. The money is a weight on our shoulders that we have to pay to Iran," Ahmed Musa, a spokesman for the ministry was quoted by the news agency as saying by the ministry.
Gas imports from Iran typically generate as much as 45% of Iraq's daily consumption of 14,000 megawatts of electricity. Iran transmits another 1,000 MW of electricity directly.
Iran’s frustration at not being paid by Iraq for its gas and electricity supplies is partly caused by its inability to access tens of billions of dollars of assets held in bank accounts around the world because of the US sanctions lock. The sums, mainly raised from exports of oil and gas, are thought to include around $7bn in South Korea and around $1.5bn in Japan.
More than $1.6bn in Iranian funds are, meanwhile, held by the Luxembourg-based Clearstream clearing house, a financial company owned by Deutsche Boerse.
Iran is to deliver equipment for a desalination plant that will be built in Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea port of Aktau, Kazlenta.kz has reported. Several private business groups, including foreign investment groups from Europe and the US, are backing the Kazakhstani tenge (KZT) 4bn ($9.4mn) project, according to the news outlet.
Initial work constructing the desalination plant is reportedly under way at the 50-hectare project site near the village of Akshukur.
Water basins and equipment enabling the desalination of 40,000 cubic metres/year of water will be built and installed.
Iran, which this year has endured its worst drought in 50 years, has experience in building desalination plants along the Persian Gulf coast and is working on constructing more such facilities.
According to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, around 4.5% of all Bitcoin mining takes place in Iran, with the activity enabling the Islamic Republic to earn hundreds of millions of dollars from cryptocurrencies that can be used to reduce the impact of US sanctions on trade.
60 IRAN Country Report December 2021 www.intellinews.com