Power cuts plague Iraq, hurt oil production

Electricity cuts that blacked out Iraq’s northern oilfields and main refinery this week were a timely reminder that its hopes of boosting oil production rest on something it does not have — a dependable power supply.

Iraq has managed to sustain production of around 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd), but levels were close to 3 million bpd before the U.S.-led war on Iraq in March 2003.
Iraq’s Oil Ministry has blamed the Electricity Ministry for failing to provide its refineries with an uninterrupted power supply. The Electricity Ministry in turn has said the Oil Ministry is not providing sufficient fuel to run its plants.

“It’s a vicious circle,” observed a U.S. government official, who said U.S. officials were working hard to improve cooperation between the two ministries to improve the stability and capacity of the fragile, war-damaged national power grid.

The pressure on the country’s fragile grid has been increased by an exceptionally cold winter that has left many Iraqis with less than an hour of electricity a day.

Reuters