Power plants shut due to lack of fuel

 

By Ali al-Mawsaiw

 

Azzaman, October 30, 2007

 

Several Iraqi power plants are idle due to shortages in fuel supplies, exacerbating blackouts across the country.

 

Electricity Minister Kareem Waheed blamed the stoppages on lack of fuel, saying neighboring countries have failed to honor contracts to ship fuel supplies.

 

Iraq, sleeping on massive oil reserves, currently imports most of its fuel needs and the fuel import bill has surged to hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

 

Iraqi refineries have the capacity to churn out up to 700,000 barrels a day but they are working much below capacity due to acts of sabotage, lack of maintenance and corruption.

 

Waheed’s target in Kuwait is to persuade Kuwaiti authorities to sign a new fuel import contract as domestic fuel production is dwindling, electricity ministry officials said.

 

They said several power plants were idle because there was no fuel to operate them.

 

Iraq suffered no fuel shortages before the U.S. invasion and the amount of electricity produced now is still less than that under the former regime.