Iraq launches first phase of major gas project

Iraq has commissioned the first phase of the Nahr Bin Umar fast-track gas development project. 

The project will tackle persistent shortages in gas to its power facilities as a result of a steep decline in supplies from Iran.

Nahr Bin Umar will pump 55-56 million cubic feet of natural gas per day for southern power facilities and 500-600 tonnes per day of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in addition to 1,800 barrels per day of condensates.

The project also included the construction of a 5km pipeline with a capacity of 70-80 million cubic feet per day, said Izzat Isamil, deputy oil minister for gas.

“This project will ease pressure on power facilities, meet domestic LPG demand and boost Iraq’s revenues,” Ismail said in statements on the ministry’s website.

He said the facility is a major step within a series of projects that the ministry is executing to develop the gas sector, noting that the next stage requires concerted efforts and cooperation from all parties to achieve the targets set by authorities.

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Iraq’s Halfaya Gas Company (HGC) is developing the Nahr Bin Umar field, which is located nearly 15km north of the southern oil hub of Basra.

Discovered in 1940, the field is 40km long and 25km wide and it holds nearly 6.5 billion barrels of proven oil deposits and 12 billion cubic feet of associated gas reserves, according to the Iraqi oil ministry.

In a report last year, the ministry said phase 2 of Nahr bin Umar project includes the construction of a gas processing facility and a raw gas gathering and compression unit besides development of the field’s crude oil output.