Iraq, Shell officially kick off major gas project

Arab News - 02 May, 2013


Royal Dutch Shell says it has officially kicked off a multibillion-dollar project to tap natural gas in Iraq's south.

The $ 17 billion joint venture will gather, process and market associated gas, a by-product of producing oil, from three oil fields in Basra.

Iraq holds 51 percent in the 25-year partnership while Shell holds 44 percent and Japan’s Mitsubishi holds 5 percent. The gas will be used mainly for domestic energy needs, but there is also an option for exports.

The new announcement was published on Shell’s website.

Iraq burns off almost half of the 1.5 billion cubic feet per day of gas that it produces.

The deal will help the country capture more than 700 million cubic feet per day of gas from three fields.

[link to www.gulfinthemedia.com]


Juliebug:
I can't even begin to tell you how huge this is! I was in the O&G business (an executive) for 10 years. We spent much time in the ME discussing partnerships, etc. We absolutely would not get involved at the end of the day because of the lack of laws to protect us. I read that Shell was going to do this project, but thought it would never come to fruition because of the problems we encountered. Something has seriously changed for Shell to feel comfortable with this venture.

1.5 billion cubic ft of NG @ $2.00 is 3billion dollars per day. They are going to have to build the infrastructre to do this. There are gas pipelines in the area, but they aren't large enough to handle that capacity. This is a major expense. Oil & gas is complicated and it would take days to explain. Just trust me... 51% of 3 billon a day isn't bad. I was just using $2 as an example...I no longer have any investments in natural gas, just oil, and haven't checked the prices lately.