Baghdad (AP) – France has signed a $ 27 billion mega-contract for the development of the Total Total oil fields, natural gas and critical water projects.
A statement from the oil ministry said the agreements were signed by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadimi on Sunday.
General contracts with the Ministry for the development of the Raw oil field in southern Iraq include the capture of natural gas from five southern oil fields and a significant project to treat Gulf seawater and maintain oil production levels.
A fourth project has been signed with the Ministry of Electricity to build a 1,000 megawatt solar power plant.
The signing of an oil giant in Iraq is a lucrative and huge power deal years later, as other international oil companies take steps to withdraw from the Iraqi oil sector.
No statement from Total.
Iraq needs to develop its natural gas resources to meet its electricity needs, especially during the summer months. The country is heavily dependent on Iran’s gas and electricity imports, which have been informal in recent months due to high prices and high demand in Iran.
In an interview in June, Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabar Ismail said Iraq plans to increase its gas capacity by 3 billion cubic meters by 2025. The development of the gas processing plant will bring Iraq closer to that goal. Iraq currently exports 2 billion cubic meters to meet domestic demand.
The project will include the construction of a gas complex to separate and manage natural gas from the oil fields of Ratawi, West Korana 2, Maconon, Tuba and Luhais oil fields. Iraq currently does not have the capacity to hold the gas, so it is burned in the atmosphere. Experts say Iraq is wasting millions of dollars on natural gas production. Once made, the gas can be supplied to power plants to meet domestic electricity needs.
Iraq says it plans to cut off gas exploration in the next two to three years. The World Bank estimates that Iraq consumes about 16 billion cubic meters of gas a day.
But industry officials and technocrats at the Ministry of Oil say the agreement is part of a comprehensive maritime development deal for Iraq’s oil industry.
Oil is Iraq’s main industry, accounting for 90 percent of government revenue. Water enters the field to maintain the current production and to maintain the pressure of the well to achieve future goals.
Officials say the agreement was signed by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Qadmi ahead of next month’s national elections, despite the fact that it was seized by Ministry of Technologists who suspected it was too difficult to implement.
“The Ministry of Petroleum and the (government-owned) Basra Oil Company have a strong suspicion that the sea project is serious. They think they will push the oil field and gas center projects and delay the rest, ”said an industry official familiar with the contract negotiations. An official with the BOC expressed similar concerns. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Industry and ministry officials have warned that there is no guarantee of adequate water supply in times of shortage and that there is no alternative.
The deal with Total reflects another multi-project agreement that has been negotiated for years with US oil giant Excon Mobile. But after years of intense negotiations, the agreement was terminated.
The Total deal comes as other oil companies plan to leave Iraq. Excon has announced that it will sell its share of West Koran 1 oil field this year. He also said that British Petroleum would drive the country’s largest oil field, Ramala.