Shell plans to expand the huge Iraqi gas project up to 40%

DUBAI : The company is fully committed to its joint gas project in Iraq after the giant energy company exits its oil assets in the OPEC member country and plans to increase its gas production there to 1.4 billion cubic feet per day 2020 .

Iraq’s gas development plans have focused on Basrah, a $ 17 billion 25-year-old project in which Iraq has 51 percent, Shell 44 percent and Japan’s Mitsubishi 5 percent, Reuters said in a report late on Saturday .

The project aims to collect gas from the fields in the south of the country, including the West Qurna-1 field operated by ExxonMobil, the Zubair field run by Eni of Italy and the Rumaila field developed by BP .

Gas production from the joint venture, the main fuel producer in southern Iraq, currently stands at 938 million cubic feet per day (bpd), with plans for further expansion, the director-general of Basra Gas told Reuters .

“Since 2013 (when the operation started), we have increased the processing capacity more than three times,” he said in a telephone conversation from Basra .

“We will go to something called BNGL, or the expansion of Basra NGL (natural gas liquids), which will actually drive us from one billion cubic feet per day to 1.4 billion cubic feet per day through two units with a capacity of 200 million feet Standard cubic meter daily . ”

The dogs are expected to operate by the end of 2020, saying the number of units could be more than one-fifth with the final investment decision taken towards the end of the year .

“That is an increase of about 40 percent, and it will be huge . ”

Iraq plans to stop the burning of gas by 2021. The burning of gas causes the government to lose about $ 2.5 billion in revenue, while the amount of gas burned is sufficient to meet most of the needs of generating electricity using gas, the World Bank said .

Shell said it would focus its efforts on the development of the Basrah Gas Company after it handed over operations in the Majnoon field to the Iraqi government. Shell also sold its stake in West Qurna-1 to Japan’s Itochu .

Shell confirmed that Shell is committed to the Basrah Gas Company .

“Shell will be in a stronger position to focus its efforts on the development of Basrah gas and perhaps the Nebras petrochemical project, of course . ”

“Shell remains fully committed to Iraq via the Basrah gas . ”

In 2015, Shell signed a $ 11 billion deal with Iraq to build a petrochemical complex in Basra as part of Iraq’s plans to diversify its sources of income .

The Nebras complex, which is still in the initial planning phase of the engineering designs, could make Iraq the largest petrochemical producer in the Middle East, Reuters said .

The Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), the world’s fourth largest petrochemical company, is in talks to join Shell as a partner in the Nabras project, the agency quoted an Iraqi official as saying in February .

Kellab declined to comment on specific talks but said Shell was in talks with several partners in the project .

Iraq’s production of associated gas is expected to grow as the country increases its oil production capacity. Iraq plans to increase the country’s production capacity of crude oil to 6.5 million barrels per day by 2022, from about five million barrels a day at the moment .

Iraq, the second largest producer of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) after Saudi Arabia, produces about 4.4 million bpd below its capacity, in line with OPEC-led global production cuts to support crude prices.

Article Credit: https://www.mubasher.info/
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