Eric Watkins
Oil Deplomacy Editor
Could oil-rich Iraq soon be turning to nuclear energy to power its national electricity grid? No one is speaking openly of this, but there are signs pointing in that direction.
One was last week's unannounced visit of Japan's trade minister Akihiro Ohata to Baghdad. Japanese sources said that Ohata's trip to the Middle East aimed at "promoting Japan's infrastructure technology, such as that related to nuclear power plants, and seeking stable oil supplies."
Earlier, in Saudi Arabia, Ohata met with Hashim bin Abdullah Yamani, head of King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy, offering to help the Kingdom nurture personnel to operate nuclear power plants as well as draw up schedules for building them. According to the Nikkei business daily, Tokyo hopes that such support will help Japanese companies garner nuclear plant construction projects in the region.
Saudi nuclear power
The Nikkei said Middle Eastern nations are introducing nuclear power generation, and that Saudi Arabia also is considering the idea. Japan expects that Saudi connections will help it expand infrastructure exports to other Middle Eastern countries.
Ohata's visit to Baghdad was especially timely, coming on the heels of last month's decision by the UN Security Council to grant Iraq permission to develop a civilian nuclear program.
In Baghdad, Ohata met with Deputy Prime Minister Hussain Al-Shahristani, a nuclear scientist by profession, and with Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi. Oil was definitely mentioned, as the Japanese want Baghdad to resume negotiations over the Nasyriah oil field.
A Japanese consortium reached an accord in principle with the Iraqi government in August 2009 for development rights of the Nasiryah field, but talks were suspended a year ago prior to Iraqi parliamentary elections.
Iraqi power station
In a statement following their meeting in Baghdad, though, the two countries also announced a decision to start preparations for a feasibility study on the construction of a large-scale power station in the south for stable supply of electricity in Iraq.
The idea of a power station in southern Iraq also surfaced a few days before, when French power companies, Schneider Electric and AREVA, secured $52-million of power grid reconstruction contracts in Iraq. Both firms, of course, are leaders in nuclear technology.
Basra region deputy governor Ahmed Hameed also revealed that the region was in talks with an unnamed Saudi Arabian company which could supply power turbines adding up to 150MW of the region's generating capacity.
Significantly, though, no one has yet spoken about the source of fuel for this power station. Could it be that the region will see the installation of a power station that is run off nuclear energy? That's where the signs are pointing.
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