Page 10 - MEOG Week 40 2022

MEOG PROJECTS & COMPANIES MEOG

Dhi Qar Oil Co. reiterates gas plans

IRAQ IRAQ’S Dhi Qar Oil Co. (DQOC) this week reit- the national pipeline that equips power plants,”
erated plans to significantly increase the levels of apparently in reference to a project award made
associated gas captured from the Nasiriyah and by Baker Hughes earlier this year.
Gharraf oilfields. In May, China Petroleum Engineering and
In September 2021, Baker Hughes signed Construction Company (CPECC), the engi-
a deal with the Ministry of Oil (MoO) and its neering division of state-owned China National
South Gas Co. (SGC) to capture up to 200mn Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), was awarded a con-
cubic feet (5.7mn cubic metres) per day of gas tract for detailed design work on a plant to pro-
from the fields – 80mmcf (2.27mcm) from cess gas associated with oil production from
Nasiriyah and 120mmcf (3.4mcm) from Ghar- Nasiriyah and Gharraf.
raf. This provided for the American company to The dry gas will be used chiefly in domestic
construct modular gas processing facilities at the power generation while the LPG and conden-
oilfields to capture associated gas and built on a sate will be deployed first to meet local demand
2017 agreement between Baker Hughes and the for cooking fuel – with the remainder sent for
South Gas Co. which sought to produce around export.
100mmcf (2.8mcm) per day of gas by dehydrat- Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar antici-
ing and compressing associated gas from the two pates that the processing facility should be com-
fields. Speaking to MEOG in September, a rep- pleted by mid-2024 and will aid Iraq in its effort
resentative of the MoO said that the agreement to reduce flaring.
had been expected to be signed in 2020 but was The estimated 1.3bn-barrel Gharraf field,
delayed on account of the Covid-19 pandemic. located around 85 km north of Nasiriyah city,
DQOC’s director for gas investment, Anwar is operated by Malaysia’s Petronas, which holds
Hadi Shiaa said this week that the company 45%. It is partnered by Japan Petroleum Explora-
“intends to raise production rates of associated tion (JAPEX) with 30% and state-owned North
gas [from] Nasiriyah and Al-Gharraf from Oil Co. (NOC). The licence was awarded during
20mmcf [(56mcm) … ] in the coming period.” Baghdad’s second international licensing round
Shiaa noted that “the cadres of the operating in late 2009.
company were able to overcome many diffi- Production belatedly commenced at 100,000
culties and obstacles and are still supplying the barrels per day (bpd) in 2014 but the tendering
national production with extracted gas, some of process initiated the following year to more than
which is prepared for power plants operating on double output in pursuit of a plateau target of
this type of fuel.” 230,000 bpd appeared to stall in the wake of the
He added that investments are being made in government’s financial and security crises erupt-
gas treatment plants “through which samples are ing that year.
taken and analysed by laboratories specialised Capacity at Nasiriyah, which is operated by
for this purpose called the drying process using DQOC is believed to stand at around 70,000
the glycol tower to rid the produced gas from bpd, though production over the last two years
impurities and oil compounds, to turn into the has been hamstrung by Baghdad’s efforts to com-
stage of compressors according to the required ply with OPEC+ output restrictions. DQOC also
specifications, and it is transported through oversees the development of the Subba field.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 40 05•October•2022