Iraq's Artawi gas project hits 96% completion, output nears

Summary

• Iraq's Oil Ministry says the Artawi accelerated gas project is 96% complete and nearing production.
• The scheme targets 50 million cubic feet per day of raw gas from the Yamama formation.
• It would add over 40 million cubic feet daily of dry gas to the national grid.

The latest

Iraq's accelerated gas investment project at the Artawi field has reached 96% completion and is expected to begin production soon, the Oil Ministry said. The scheme, developed with France's TotalEnergies, is designed to capture 50 million standard cubic feet per day of raw gas from the Yamama layer and feed more than 40 million cubic feet per day of dry gas into the national network.

Details

• The project: The Artawi accelerated gas investment project, designated AG25, sits within the wider Artawi field development in Basra province. The Oil Ministry said completion has reached 96%, with entry into the production phase expected soon. No specific start-up date was announced.
• The target volume: The ministry said the project is built to capture 50 million standard cubic feet per day of raw gas from the Yamama formation, gas that would otherwise be burned off at the field rather than monetized or delivered to consumers.
• Grid impact: The project will supply the national network with more than 40 million standard cubic feet per day of dry gas, the ministry said, as part of a broader plan to expand gas investment and cut flaring rates across southern Iraqi fields.
• The partner: The work is being carried out with French energy major TotalEnergies, which operates within Iraq's southern oil and gas development programme. The ministry did not detail the commercial terms or each side's share of the work.
• The inspection: The figures were disclosed during a field visit by Deputy Oil Minister for Gas Affairs Izzat Saber Ismail to the Artawi development site in Basra, accompanied by the director general of the South Gas Company and a number of project managers.
• Who attended: Officials from Basra Oil Company and South Gas Company joined the visit, alongside representatives of the field operator and the contracting firms working on site. The ministry did not name the contractors involved in the works.
• The bigger plant: Ismail also toured the Gas Manufacturing Plant, whose completion rate stands at roughly 35%. Its first phase targets processing of 300 million standard cubic feet per day of raw gas drawn from the Majnoon, West Qurna/2 and Artawi fields.
• Second phase: A second phase would add an equivalent 300 million standard cubic feet per day from other fields, according to the ministry. No timeline was given for when either phase of the processing plant would enter service.
• The instruction: Ismail pressed contractors to stick to contractual timelines and accelerate completion, and said the ministry and state oil companies back gas projects that maximize use of the resource, reduce flaring and strengthen supplies to the national grid.

Background

Iraq flares a large share of the associated gas produced with its crude and imports gas and electricity to run power plants. Successive ministry plans have tied new processing capacity in Basra to ending that dependence.

Between the lines

The gap between the two completion figures sets the near-term ceiling. Artawi's 96% delivers a fast 40 million cubic feet per day into the grid, but the Gas Manufacturing Plant at 35% is the facility built to handle 300 million cubic feet per day from three fields. Until it advances, flaring-reduction targets rest on smaller accelerated schemes.

What's next

Watch for the ministry's announcement of first production at Artawi AG25, and for updated completion figures on the Gas Manufacturing Plant's first phase and any start-up date for its 300 million cubic feet per day capacity.

Source: Iraqi News Agency (INA)