Having met his Qatari counterpart Saad Sherida al-Kaabi at this week’s Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Doha, Iraq’s Oil Minister Ihsan Ismaael says his country is in an “initial dialogue” to import 1.5mn t/y of LNG from Qatar. The comments come after Iraq’s cabinet on 15 February approved the “urgent” appointment of a “gas consulting firm” to support the Ministries of Electricity and Oil in “studying a proposal” from US firm Excelerate Energy to to supply Iraq with the facilities (likely an FSRU) to enable LNG imports.
The developments follow a “brief visit” by Iraq’s acting Minister of Electricity Adil Kareem to Doha on 7 February where he discussed with Mr al-Kaabi the logistics of Iraq importing Qatari LNG. A 16 February phone call between Iraq’s caretaker Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani is believed to have discussed LNG imports. (CONTINUED - 1119 WORDS)
