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Dubai: Dana Gas has announced that its project in the Kurdistan region of Iraq is progressing at a rapid pace, with over 70 per cent of the work completed to date. The project will supply, process and transport natural gas to fuel urgently-needed local electricity generation
The project, following service agreements signed in April 2007 with the Kurdistan Regional Government and carried out in partnership with Crescent Petroleum, has completed the engineering, procurement and manufacturing phases, and is now in the construction stage, using Iraqi contractors to maximise local content and economic benefit.
The entire project is on track for first gas supply of 150 million cubic feet of gas per day by the middle of this year, rising to 300 million cubic feet by early 2009.
Gas will be supplied to new power plants under construction in Erbil and Sulymaniya, to provide 1,250 megawatts of electricity generation, for the benefit of over four million Iraqi citizens in the Kurdistan region and the rest of Iraq.
The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq, Nechirvan Barzani, received Hamid Jafar, executive chairman of Dana Gas and chairman of the board of Crescent Petroleum, who briefed the prime minister on progress of the project. The project involves a total investment of $650 million - the largest single private sector investment in Iraq since 2003.
Implementation
The project implementation includes upstream development and production, processing with state-of-the-art liquified petroleum gas (LPG) plants, and transportation of natural gas through a new 180km pipeline, in order to provide urgently-needed gas supplies to cost-effectively fuel the new power stations under construction.
This will also help in saving over $2 billion annually from the government's budget in fuel costs. The project implementation will also provide work opportunities for over 2,000 Iraqi nationals of all ethnic groups, and provide comprehensive training in oil and gas operations for Iraq's citizens.
Complex
The protocol agreement includes the Kurdistan Gas City - a major new gas-utilisation industrial complex to be built over an area of approximately 35 square kilometres, designed to promote private sector investment in a variety of gas-related industries to further benefit the country's citizens through training, job creation, and the promotion of general economic activity.
The initial feasibility study for the Kurdistan Gas City project has now been completed, with final site selection underway.
Barzani said: "This important project will benefit not only the people of the Kurdistan region but contribute to providing affordable electricity for the whole of Iraq."
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