Scholz opens to import gas and oil from Iraq to enter new markets

BERLIN, 13 Jan. (DPA/EP) –

The chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, has been in favor of buying gas and oil from Iraq, with the aim of not depending on “individual suppliers” after the problems derived in the last year from the military offensive launched by Russia on Ukraine.

“We will mobilize many other (suppliers), we will cooperate closely with them,” Scholz said this Friday, at a press conference in Berlin together with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al Sudani. Energy has dominated much of the conversation on this visit.

For the German chancellor, Iraq is “a very welcome cooperation partner” and not only for Germany, since according to Scholz the imported fuel could later be diverted to other European countries.

Al Sudani, for his part, has reaffirmed his government’s “ambitious plans” to continue advancing in energy matters. “We have highlighted these opportunities and invited German companies to invest in this sector,” he told the media.

Al Sudani’s rise to power ended a year of political deadlock in a country still grappling with serious political and economic crises. Iraq, the world’s fifth-largest oil producer, is one of the world’s most dependent countries on crude oil revenues and has been exporting gas through a liquefied natural gas terminal since last year.