Page 17 - MEOG Week 13 2021

MEOG PROJECTS & COMOPANIES MEOG

Iraq signs broad energy deal with Total

IRAQ IRAQ’S Ministry of Oil (MoO) revealed this political and administrative backing had already
week that it had signed a head of agreement deal been secured.
with French super-major Total for a “giant” $7bn “The agreement is giant, and the volume of
deal aimed at reshaping the country’s energy the investment exceeds $7bn,” he said. In the first
sector. phase of the project, Total will target improving
Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar said that a Iraq’s standing in low-carbon developments,
deal covering oil, gas, solar energy and seawa- capture all flare gas and produce 1 GW of elec-
ter reprocessing would be presented to the Iraqi tricity from a solar PV facility.
cabinet for approval. High-level talks between Total and the Iraqi
If approved, the agreement will see Total government were reported to have kicked off in
build a facility to produce natural gas from the October, with Total said to be preparing to invest
southern oilfields of West Qurna-2, Majnoon, in two gas field development projects that will
Artawi, Tuba and Luhais, according to the min- allow the country to increase output and reduce
istry. These will have a production capacity of its reliance on imported gas and electricity from
300mn cubic feet (8.5mn cubic metres) per day, neighbouring Iran.
with this doubling in phase two. Aside from the talks with Total, the minister
It will also work to increase production from said that Baghdad intends to reduce its gasoline
the Artawi oilfield from the current 60,000 bar- and gasoil imports by 50% and 90% in 2021 and
rels per day (bpd) to 200,000 bpd. 2022 respectively, with the remaining imports
Perhaps the most notable project covered by required to support power generation going
the agreement is that Total will take over as lead forward.
developer on the Common Seawater Supply Pro- The country currently produces around
ject (CSSP), which has been stalled for around 1.5bn cubic feet (42mcm) per day of gas, but
10 years and once complete, has the potential to its existing gas-fired turbines require 5 bcf (142
unlock broader expansion of the giant southern mcm) per day to achieve their 20-GW genera-
oilfields. tion capacity.
In May 2019, discussions about the long-de- Meanwhile, Abdul Jabbar offered an update
layed project between the MoO and current on the Basra-Aqaba crude oil pipeline, not-
lead developer ExxonMobil broke down, with ing that he expects a deal to be signed on the
a $2.4bn package for the development awarded cross-border conduit this year. He added that a
to Hyundai Engineering & Construction the fol- framework deal could be agreed within the next
lowing month. Hyundai’s pricing for the project two weeks.
was reported to have come in lower than that of In terms of oil production, the Reservoirs &
the US super-major. Fields Development Directorate (RFDD) at the
The CSSP is designed to take 2.5mn bpd of MoO said over the weekend that the country’s
seawater from the Gulf, treat it then pipe it to short-term plan is to reach 7-8mn barrels per
major southern oilfields where it will be injected day (bpd). The RFDD has carried out technical
to increase pressure in oil wells. With this key assessments of the area around Nassiriyah, iden-
to Iraqi efforts to increase oil production, the tifying “huge potential for exploration”.
importance of the CSSP to the expansion of Iraqi This was followed up over the weekend by
oil production is paramount. the Oil Minister, who said that the intention is
Abdul Jabbar had days earlier told local to increase production capacity to 8mn bpd by
media outlet Al-Iqtisad that the deal would 2029, up from the current 4.8mn bpd level, add-
cover the construction of infrastructure, oilfield ing that capacity could reach 12mn bpd, though
development, gas production, flaring reduction the success of the CSSP will be crucial to any
and developing renewables. He added that the such expansion.™

Schematic of the CSSP

Week 13 31•March•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P17