ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein received Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar on Sunday. The two discussed ways of building on their existing cooperations in the energy sector.

The Turkish minister met with multiple Iraqi officials during a visit to Baghdad on Sunday. 

The meeting with Hussein witnessed discussions around “issues related to electricity, natural gas, and oil, as well as ways to develop existing cooperation in the energy sector to reflect the close relations between Iraq and Turkey,” according to a statement by Iraq’s foreign ministry.

In addition, the meeting also focused on “encouraging Turkish companies and providing the necessary facilities to invest in the oil and gas sector in Iraq.”

Hussein and Bayraktar discussed the “possibility of importing gas from Turkey to meet needs of power plants in Iraq,” Iraqi state media reported. 

Iraq has been looking for alternative routes of importing gas in order to alleviate their dependence on Iranian gas, which currently supplies 30 to 40 percent of Iraq’s power generation.

The Iraqi government’s attempts to shift away from Iranian gas comes as the United States puts mounting pressure on Baghdad to eliminate its dependence on Iranian energy sources as part of Washington’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran under US President Donald Trump.

“We urge the Iraqi government to eliminate its dependence on Iranian sources of energy as soon as possible and welcome the Iraqi Prime Minister’s commitment to achieve energy independence,” a US State Department spokesperson told The New Region earlier in March.

Bayraktar and Hussein agreed on doubling the amount of electricity that Turkey supplies to Iraq, which currently sits at 300 megawatts through the Iraqi Turkish interconnection line.

Prior to meeting with Hussein, Bayraktar met with Iraqi Minister of Electricity Ziad Ali Fadhil, where they agreed on projections to increase the interconnection line’s supply from 300 to 600 megawatts.

The 115-kilometer line, running from Turkey to Kisik in Iraq supplies electricity to northern Iraq, including the provinces of Nineveh, Saladin, and Kirkuk. The line was inaugurated in July 2024 by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani after a nearly two-decade stall.

The Turkish energy minister also met with Iraqi oil minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani, where they highlighted bilateral relations in the fields of "oil, gas, and energy."

Bayraktar is expected to follow his visit to Baghdad by setting out to Erbil on Sunday evening and meeting with relevant officials from the Kurdistan Region.