OPEC member Iraq has started constructing power stations and cables within a project to link its electricity network with that of neighboring Saudi Arabia, the official Iraq news agency said on Thursday. 

The connection is part of an agreement between Iraq and the nearby six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states to supply the war-torn country with electricity and allow it to slash heavy energy imports from Iran. 

“We have determined cable directions and location of the stations…we have just started constructing those stations and will build more in the future,” the agency said, quoting Ahmed Mousa, a spokesman for the Iraqi Electricity Ministry. 

Mousa provided no details of the project apart from saying the two sides would hold regular meetings to follow up the plan. 

Iraq has also signed power supply agreements with Jordan and has approved plans to construct solar power plants in various parts of the country within a programme to rehabilitate vital sectors that have been damaged during the war. 

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)