ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iranian natural gas exports to Iraq, essential for operating the country’s national grid, are expected to resume next week following maintenance delays, an Iraqi electricity official said Sunday.

Ahmed al-Abadi, spokesperson for Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity, told The New Region that the Iranian side is continuing maintenance work on its infrastructure, preventing the resumption of gas supplies. The shortfall has significantly impacted power plants in most Iraqi cities, he said.

“The exports were initially expected to resume last Monday,” Abadi said. “However, the Iranian side informed us that maintenance would take an additional 15 days. A week of that has already passed, leaving one more week. We are awaiting resumption next week, as promised by the Iranians.”

In late November, the ministry announced that natural gas supplies from Iran had been fully halted. At the time, the ministry said the suspension would last 15 days and was attributed to maintenance work on the Iranian side.

The disruption has reduced Iraq's power supply by 5,500 megawatts, the ministry said, affecting Baghdad, the central region, and the Middle Euphrates region. While Iraq typically receives 25 million cubic meters of gas daily from Iran, only 7 million cubic meters are currently being supplied, and those volumes have been redirected to the southern region.

In a statement, the ministry said it is implementing “strategic and emergency plans” to enhance the national grid's capacity, restart stalled projects, and recover lost production. While some power plants rely on domestic gas and fuel, a significant portion depends on imported Iranian gas until domestic gas field projects are completed.

The ministry said it is coordinating with the oil ministry to make up for the shortfall and urged Iraqis to conserve electricity usage during the outage. “We call on everyone to be mindful of this situation, which is beyond our control, until maintenance is completed and gas supplies resume in the required quantities,” the ministry said.

Iraq has long relied on imports of electricity and gas from Iran, which account for between 30 to 40 percent of its energy needs. These imports are especially crucial during the summer months, when temperatures can reach 50°C and energy demand peaks. However, Iraq has faced difficulties paying for these imports due to US sanctions, which restrict payments to Iran to non-sanctioned goods such as food and medicine.

To address this, Iraq is exploring regional grid connections and alternative gas sources, including a 2023 agreement with Turkmenistan, while the US pressures it to reduce reliance on Iran.