Gas development projects to save Iraq $17bln
Gas development projects awarded to BP, TotalEnergies and other oil majors will save Iraq nearly $17 billion per year, an official revealed.
The funds will be saved as such projects will massively reduce quantities of gas flared during the production process at key oilfields.
'Iraq has made noticeable progress in reducing gas flaring and turn produced gas into an efficient investment…this will contributes to saving nearly $17 billion a year, improving the environment and creating jobs for Iraqis,' Oil Ministry undersecretary for gas Izzat Ismail said, quoting by the official Iraqi News Agency on Thursday.
He said the gas investment ratio increased to 53 percent in 2022, nearly 60 percent in 2023 and 68 percent in 2024, adding that the ratio currently stands at 70 percent.
Ismail said the ratio is set to sharply increase in the coming years when major gas development projects are completed, mainly those executed by France's energy giant TotalEnergies and UK-headquartered BP.
TotalEnergies has already started working on a project to develop the Artawi gas field in the Southern Basra province, with an expected production of 600 million cubic feet per day.
The project, part of the $10 billion Gas Growth Integrated Project (GGIP), is being developed by a consortium led by TotalEnergies, which holds a 45 percent stake. It also includes Basrah Oil Company (30 percent) and QatarEnergy (25 percent).
BP is developing four fields in the Northern Kirkuk governorate under an agreement it signed with Iraq in March.
The Oil Ministry has said the contract with BP includes increasing oil production to a record high of 420,000 barrels per day, boosting gas output to 400 million cubic feet per day and the construction of a 400-megawatt (MW) power plant.
'We believe that by the end of 2027, Iraq will totally shut the gas-flaring file...within the next five years, Iraq's gas imports will be zero and in 2030 it will be able to export gas,' Ismail said.
Iraq, OPEC's second largest oil producer, controls around 145 billion of proven crude deposits and 3.5 trillion cubic metres of natural gas.
(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
(anoop.menon@lseg.com)
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