Major Iran-Iraq Earthquake Kills 407, Hits Gas
A 7.3-magnitude earthquake, which left 407 dead and thousands injured in western Iran, shut down a gas field and processing plant as well as causing a gas outage in region, but exports to Iraq continued at high rates, Iran’s oil ministry said November 13.
At press time, both were expected to resume work soon as it was a safety issue that forced the closure of the 6.8mn m³/day production capacity and Ilham gas processing plant, the report said.
After the earthquake, Iran stopped gas deliveries to several regions in west, but the latest information to be published by ministry indicates that gas deliveries were resumed in some cities, but not in others which had been harder hit, such as Sar Pol Zahab. Its 15,000 gas consuming households will remain offline while the repair work continues.
Iran started exports from Ilham Province to Baghdad in June at 7mn m³/day, rising to 10-12 mn m3/d by early November. National Iranian Gas Company spokesman Majid Bujarzadeh said that despite the damage elsewhere in the region, Iran continued exports to Baghdad at the higher level of 14mn m3/d.
Dalga Khatinoglu