Oil: Gas investment project implementation with Total is progressing within the specified timeframe

Baghdad - INA

The Ministry of Oil confirmed, today, Friday, that the gas investment project work with the French company Total is proceeding within the specified timeframes.

A statement by the ministry - received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA) - stated that "Undersecretary of the Ministry for Extraction Affairs, Basem Mohammed Khader, chaired the seventh meeting of the Joint Management Committee for the project, in the presence of Undersecretary of the Ministry for Gas Affairs, Izzat Saber, Director General of Basra Oil Company, Basem Abdul Karim, and Director General of South Gas Company, Hamza Abdul Baqi."

The Undersecretary said during the meeting - according to the statement - that "the progress of the implementation of the gas investment project implemented by the French company Total in Basra is proceeding within the specified timeframes, as confirmed in the government program and the directives of Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs and Minister of Oil, Hayan Abdul Ghani."

The Undersecretary confirmed - after chairing the meeting - that "the project is one of the important and strategic projects on which great hopes are pinned, as it includes important projects, including the development of the Artawi field and gas investment in five oil fields in two phases with a capacity of 600 mcm, each phase 300 mcm, in addition to the seawater project to inject water into the fields to compensate for the depleted pressures, as well as the solar electric energy project with a capacity of 1000 megawatts in four phases, each phase 250 megawatts."

He added, "The meeting discussed several topics, the most important of which is how to start the accelerated gas investment project, which is an additional paragraph for the project that was not included in the obligations, but was added after the directives of the leadership of the oil sector and the government on the necessity of closing the gas flaring file and optimal investment of associated gas, and the project was referred with a capacity of 50 cubic meters."

The statement continued, "During the meeting, the mechanisms for starting drilling operations were discussed, as tenders were referred in this regard, and they will begin after December of this year," noting that "the seismic surveys project was assigned to a Chinese company in cooperation with the Oil Exploration Company."

He pointed out that "regarding the seawater project, there are negotiations with one of the companies in agreement with Total, and we hope to reach an understanding in this regard."

The statement explained that "the meeting stressed the importance of the participation of Iraqi workers from graduates and other workers in the project, and this will be through contracting with them directly from Total, without the need for other parties."