Iraq is in the final stages of negotiating its first-ever purchase of LNG supplies as power outages hamper the Middle East country, Bloomberg reported on June 26.

Dallas-headquartered Excelerate Energy is one of a handful of companies to have submitted a tender to deliver shipments of LNG cargoes. The company is currently in advanced talks with Iraq’s state-run South Gas Company, Bloomberg reported citing Ali Salman, South Gas Company’s acting director general.

Iraq has long been dealing with power outages. And in March, amid growing pressure from the US, Iraq began looking into the possibility of importing the super-chilled fuel from Qatar, Oman, and Algeria. Washington made the decision in February to cancel a waiver that enabled Iraq to buy Iranian gas to produce electricity.

Under previous agreements, Iraq had purchased as much as 50mn cubic metres of gas per day from Tehran, which was responsible for about 43% of Iraq’s electricity production.

But with Washington seeking to isolate Iran and the US desiring to dominate the global energy market, Trump has ratcheted up pressure on Iraq to diversify its gas supply.

Baghdad followed by stopping electricity imports from Iran, which lowered its electricity supply by 40%. However the country restarted gas imports, which have not been impacted by US and Israeli attacks on Iran’s energy sites.

Although Iraq is OPEC’s second-largest oil producer, the Middle East country does not possess enough gas to run its gas-fired power plants leaving it prone to electricity blackouts during the hot summer months.

Iraq has also been attempting to reduce wasted gas from flaring at its domestic fields. The country also inked a deal in 2024 with Turkmenistan to buy gas, however gas flows have yet to commence amid difficulties transiting the gas through Iran.

Meanwhile, Iraq’s Oil Ministry also announced plans in March to install two floating terminals in Basra for gas imports. Baghdad hopes to source 50% of its gas demand through imports.

Iraq has completed the 40km extension of an existing pipeline to the Khor Al-Zubair commodities port in Basra, where the two floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) will be moored.