QatarEnergy obtains 25% in significant gas project in Iraq
Siba gas field in Basra, Iraq. Photo: Reuters
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – QatarEnergy, the state-owned oil company of Qatar, announced on Wednesday it obtained 25 percent in a significant gas project in Iraq.
The Gas Growth Integrated Project (GGIP), launched by French oil giant TotalEnergies in 2021, aims to develop facilities to recover natural gas from several oilfields in southern Iraq, The Washington Post reported.
The project also aims to treat seawater for injection into oil reservoirs to boost production, The Washington Post added.
Shares of the GGIP are divided into 45 percent for TotalEnergy, 30 percent for Iraq’s Basra Oil Company (BOC), and 25 percent for QatarEnergy.
“We thank the Iraqi government for welcoming us to be part of this partnership. We are pleased to be part of this significant development, which is important for Iraq’s energy sector,” the Qatari Minister of Energy Affairs and President of QatarEnergy, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, mentioned in a statement.
The total investment of the strategic project would be around 10 billion USD, and will mainly benefit from the flared gas released in oil production to be used as fuel for gas-fired power plants to generate electricity.
Iraq has been excessively relying on gas imports from Iran to feed its power plants.
According to the World Bank, gas flares in Iraq are nearly 18 billion cubic meters a year. If this volume of gas is used, it could be worth more than two billion USD.