Page 11 - MEOG Week 05 2023

MEOG PROJECTS & COMPANIES MEOG

Production resumes at

Iraq’s Subba via pilot project

IRAQ OIL production has resumed at the southern significantly raise the levels of associated gas cap-
Iraqi oilfield of Subba following a near-five-year tured from the Nasiriyah and Gharraf oilfields.
hiatus, with its operator beginning a pilot pro- In September 2021, Baker Hughes signed
gramme seen breathing new life into the asset. a deal with the Ministry of Oil (MoO) and its
Local media quoted Ali Khudaier, CEO of South Gas Co. (SGC) to capture up to 200mn
the state-owned Dhi Qar Oil Co. (DQOC), as cubic feet (5.7mn cubic metres) per day of gas
saying that output from the field has resumed at from the fields – 80 mmcf (2.27 mcm) from
around 10,000 barrels per day (bpd). The field Nasiriyah and 120 mmcf (3.4 mcm) from
straddles the border of the Dhi Qar and Basra Gharraf.
Governorates. This provided for the American company to
Following more than 25 years offline, the construct modular gas processing facilities at the
1.1bn barrel field was brought back into pro- oilfields to capture associated gas and built on a
duction in December 2017, reaching a level of 2017 agreement between Baker Hughes and the
23,000 bpd during Q1 the following year, below South Gas Co. which sought to produce around
a reported capacity of 30,000 bpd. However, 100 mmcf (2.8 mcm) per day of gas by dehydrat-
unspecified technical problems were subse- ing and compressing associated gas from the two
quently reported. fields.
At that point, plans were announced to pro- Speaking to Middle East Oil & Gas (MEOG)
ceed with a development project integrated in September, a representative of the MoO said
across Subba, Luhais – which lies adjacent to that the agreement had been expected to be
Subba – and Tuba, with the latter assets reported signed in 2020 but was delayed on account of the
to have produced at a rate of 80,000 bpd and coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
40,000 bpd respectively. Meanwhile, DQOC’s director for gas invest-
Khudaier said this week that Subba’s capacity ment, Anwar Hadi Shiaa, said that the company
has been expanded to 100,000 bpd, noting that “intends to raise production rates of associated
the first recovery phase would reach a produc- gas [from] Nasiriyah and Al-Gharraf from 20
tion level of 25,000 bpd and overall output from mmcf [(56 mcm) per day … ] in the coming
the field would be capped at 70,000 bpd. period.”
A report from MEES suggested that engi- Shiaa noted that “the cadres of the operating
neering, procurement and construction (EPC) company were able to overcome many diffi-
work on the asset had been carried out by the culties and obstacles and are still supplying the
Ministry of Oil’s (MoO) State Company for Oil national production with extracted gas, some of
Projects (SCOP). which is prepared for power plants operating on
In Q3 2022, DQOC reiterated plans to this type of fuel.”™

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